FUNCTIONALIZATION OF SCAFFOLDS WITH NaOH-BASED SOLUTION CAN IMPROVE BONE REGENERATION

JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL REGULATORS & HOMEOSTATIC AGENTS Vol. 33, no. 3, (2019) – 0393-974X (2019) 

A. PACIFICI1, A. POLIMENI1, A. BANZI2 and L. PACIFICI1 

 1Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy; 2Banzi Healthcare, Pieve di Cento, Bologna, Italy 

Abstract

 Among the numerous types of materials used in medical applications, titanium and its alloys provide many advantages, such as excellent biocompatibility, high strength-to-weight ratio, lower elastic modulus, and superior corrosion resistance, required for dental and orthopaedic implants. For these reasons titanium is a promising material for bone substitution, while its bio-inert property results in demand of modifications to improve the osteointegration capacity.
The formation of a biologically active layer on the surface of an artificial material is an essential requirement to bond the implant to living bone in a body environment. It has been reported that after NaOH- and heat-treatment, titanium metal and titanium alloys form a biologically active bone-like apatite layer on its surface (1); in a living body, the apatite layer bond to and integrate with bone. It is believed that apatite establishment on the metal surface is induced by amorphous sodium titanate formation after the NaOH and heat treatments, especially when it could be converted into anatase (mineral form of titanium dioxide).