Observation of Minute-Time Interaction Between Biomolecular Solution and Material Surface

Objectives: Biomaterials embedded in the living body such as titanium implants show cell adhesion and matrix deposition on the surface after a long period of time. On the other hand, contact with the biomolecular solution and adsorption are considered as the first reactions in the short period reaction. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to establish an evaluation method using an ultra-high-speed camera for the interaction between the titanium surface and various biomolecules.
Methods: As the material, type 2 pure titanium (hydrophilic titanium) and hydrophobic titanium obtained by acid treatment were prepared. As the biomolecular solution, a glucose solution was used as the sugar, a bovine serum alubmin (BSA) solution was used as the protein, and a sodium oleate solution was used as the fatty acid solution. The moment when the droplets of these solutions came into contact was photographed at 35000 fps by ultra-high-speed camera (VW-9000, Keyence). The movies were created and analyzed by using image software (Image J, NIH).
Results: On the hydrophilic titanium surface, the diffusion rate of droplet became slower as the concentration of the biomolecular solution increased, while on the hydrophobic surface, the diffusion rate was higher than that of water due to the presence of the biomolecular solution. It was also suggested that the adsorption process of biomolecules may be reflected in the process of diffusion rate measurement.
Conclusions: Minute-time observation of the diffusion behavior of a solution at the material interface is effective as a new method for evaluating the biomolecules / material interactions.