INDUCTION OF CALCIUM-PHOSPHATE PRECIPITATION BY TITANIUM-DIOXIDE

Titanium powder and various titanium dioxides were tested for their capacity to reduce the induction time for calcium phosphate precipitation from supersaturated solutions. Only after a pretreatment aimed at increasing its oxide surface layer was titanium powder found to accelerate the precipitation from solutions containing 2 mmol/L CaCl2, 2 mmol/L KH2PO4, 50 mmol/L Hepes, pH 7.2, and to induce precipitation from metastable solutions containing 1.2 mmol/L CaCl2, 1.2 mmol/L KH2PO4, 50 mmol/L Hepes, pH 7.2, at 37-degrees-C. Even stronger effects were found when suspensions of the titanium dioxides anatase or rutile (10-50-mu-g/L) were added to these solutions. TiO2 appeared to serve as a reactive substrate for secondary nucleation at a wide range of calcium-to-phosphate ratios and concentrations, even in the presence of 40 mg/mL bovine serum albumin, which completely inhibited precipitation in control incubations. These results suggest that the oxide surface layer of titanium implants may induce calcium phosphate precipitation in the metal-to-bone interface, which may play a role in the integration of such implants in bone.