In vitro biological, chemical and electrochemical evaluation of titania reinforced hydroxyapatite sol-gel coatings on surgical grade 316L SS

Development and characterization of titania (TiO2)/Hydroxyapatite (HAP) reinforced coating derived by sol-gel dip coating process was studied. Structural, electrochemical and biological behavior of the reinforced coatings were conducted and elaborated in this paper. The bonding between the HAP matrix and TiO2 reinforcement might have been achieved predominantly through a chemical bond that resulted from the mutual chemical reaction among the components. In vitro electrochemical studies of the reinforced coatings shows good corrosion resistance and minimum leach out of metal ions in the simulated body fluid (Hank's balanced salt solution) environment. The cell culture cytotoxicity studies were also carried out using L929 cell line. Cell culture studies showed that the reinforced coatings were non-cytotoxic to mouse fibroblast cell line. On the basis of these observations, it's concluded that the titania reinforced materials are biocompatible and corrosion resistant and hence are a candidate material for biomedical applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.