A scientific group that includes scientists from TSU, TPU, and Siberian State Medical University, presented the results of the cytocompatibility test of a new anti-corrosion coating for implants. Thanks to the coating they developed, implants made of titanium alloys, for example, dental and spinal implants, are better protected from exposure to biological fluids under intense loads in the human body. Effective protection extends their life. The next stage of the project will be optimizing coating methods and testing on laboratory animals.
A method for protecting superelastic titanium nickelide from corrosion consists of magnetron sputtering of a three-layer Ti-Ni-Ti laminate and subsequent heating. As a result of heating, the laminate turns into a multilayer gradient coating, which serves as a barrier to the diffusion of oxygen to the substrate. A thin but dense nanocrystalline coating does not crack, does not interfere with the intense deformation of the superelastic substrate, and effectively protects it from aggressive biological fluids of the human body.
- At this stage, we checked the cytocompatibility of sputtering using platelets. We sowed the cell culture on the processed and untreated samples and carried out a comparative analysis, - explains Yekaterina Marchenko, the project manager. - As a result, for the same period, the cells multiplied on the treated samples, but not on the untreated ones, which indicates a greater cytocompatibility of the treated surfaces.
Thus, the method proposed by physicists and biologists to protect the surface of titanium alloys has proven effective in biological fluids. Due to the reliable connection of the coating with the substrate, it is capable of long-term and effective work on intensively loaded dental and spinal implants.
Now the work is at the stage of laboratory experiments. The installation of implants for animals is planned for the next stages of work.
