A Bioinspired Dopamine-Amorphous Calcium Phosphate Coating on Titanium Implant for Osteogenesis and Angiogenesis

Abstract

Titanium (Ti) is widely used in dental implantation. However, their lack of biological activity causes significant clinical risks associated with immediate loading and early osteointegration failure. Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) is reported to be a precursor of bone mineralization. Dopamine (dopa) is well known to possess strong adhesive force in natural mussels. Combining the bio-related advantages of these materials, a dopa-polyacrylic acid (PAA)-ACP hybrid material on the surface of the Ti plate is judiciously fabricated. The biological adhesiveness of dopa to graft it together with PAA onto the surface of Ti is utilized. Then, the dopa-PAA layer serves as a matrix to grow ACP species. The modified interface allows for regulations of bioactivities. MC3T3-E1 osteoblast (MC3T3) cells indeed show improved cell proliferation and adhesion abilities on the Ti with dopa-PAA-ACP coatings compared to those on bare Ti or Ti with only dopa-PAA coating. The osteogenic potential of MC3T3 cells is also considerably upregulated on dopa-PAA-ACP coatings. Moreover, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) on dopa-PAA-ACP coatings show higher levels of angiogenic markers. This report proves that dopa-PAA-ACP composite is a new and simple bioactive titanium coating to facilitate osteogenesis and angiogenesis for dental applications.