In vitro osteoblast‐like cell proliferation on nano‐hydroxyapatite coatings with different morphologies on a titanium‐niobium shape memory alloy

Abstract The morphology of nanomaterials significantly affects their physical, chemical, and biological properties. In the present study, nano‐hydroxyapatite coatings with different morphologies were produced on the surface of a titanium‐niobium shape memory alloy via a hydrothermal process. The effect of the nano‐hydroxyapatite coatings on the in vitro proliferation of SaOS‐2 osteoblast‐like cells was investigated. Factors including crystallinity, surface micro‐roughness, and surface energy of the nano‐hydroxyapatite coatings were discussed. Results show that in vitro proliferation of the osteoblast‐like cells was significantly enhanced on the nano‐hydroxyapatite‐coated titanium‐niobium alloy compared to the titanium‐niobium alloy without coating. The cell numbers on the nano‐hydroxyapatite‐coated titanium‐niobium alloy changed consistently with the surface energy of the hydroxyapatite coatings. This study suggests that surface energy as a characteristic parameter influencing the in vitro proliferation of osteoblast‐like cells was predominant over the crystallinity and surface micro‐roughness of the nano‐hydroxyapatite coatings. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A, 2010.