Effects of Titanium Surfaces With Nano-network Structures Formed by Treatment With Various Alkali Concentrations on Osteogenic Differentiation

Objectives: Titanium surfaces play an important role in affecting osseointegration of dental implants. Previous studies have shown that the titania nanotube promotes osseointegration by enhancing osteogenic differentiation. Only relatively recently have the effects of titanium surfaces with other nanostructure on osteogenic differentiation been investigated.
Methods: In this study, we used NaOH solutions with a concentration of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5 M to develop a simple and useful titanium surface modification that introduces the nano-network structures with titania nanosheet (TNS) nanofeatures to the surface of titanium disks. The effects of such modified nano-network structure, with different alkaline concentrations, on the osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells BMMSCs were evaluated.
Results: The nano-network structures with TNS nanofeatures induced by alkali etching markedly enhanced bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) functions of cell adhesion and osteogenesis-related gene expression, in addition other cell behaviors such as proliferation, ALP activity, ECM deposition and mineralizations were also significantly increased. These effects were most pronounced when the concentration of NaOH was 10 M.
Conclusions: The results suggested that nano-network structures with TNS nanofeatures improved BMMSCs proliferation and induced BMMSCs osteogenic differentiation. In addition, the surfaces formed with 10 M NaOH suggest the potential to improve the clinical performance of dental implants.