Abstract
Substituting small molecule drugs with abundant and easily affordable ions may have positive effects on the way countless disease treatments are approached. The interest in strontium cation in bone therapies soared in the wake of the success of strontium ranelate in the treatment of osteoporosis. A new method for producing thin strontium-containing hydroxyapatite (Sr-HA, Ca9Sr(PO4)6(OH)2) films as coatings that render bioinert titanium implant bioactive is reported here. The method is based on the combination of a mechanochemical synthesis of Sr-HA targets and their deposition in form of thin films on top of titanium with the use of laser ablation at low pressure. The films were 1–2 μm in thickness and their formation was studied at different temperatures, including 25, 300, and 500 °C. Highly crystalline Sr-HA target transformed during pulsed laser deposition to a fully amorphous film, whose degree of long-range order recovered with temperature. Particle edges became somewhat sharper and surface roughness moderately increased with temperature, but the (Ca+Sr)/P atomic ratio, which increased 1.5 times during the film formation, remained approximately constant at different temperatures. Despite the mostly amorphous structure of the coatings, their affinity for capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and accommodating it as carbonate ions that replace both phosphates and hydroxyls of HA was confirmed in an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis. As the film deposition temperature increased, the lattice voids got reduced in concentration and the structure gradually “closed,” becoming more compact and entailing a linear increase in microhardness with temperature, by 0.03 GPa/°C for the entire 25–500 °C range. Biocompatibility and bioactivity of Sr-HA thin films deposited on titanium were confirmed in an interaction with dental pulp stem cells, suggesting that these coatings, regardless of the processing temperature, may be viable candidates for the surface components of metallic bone implants.
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Acknowledgments
The technical assistance of Mr. Massimo Di Menno Di Bucchianico, Mr. Luca Imperatori, and Mr. Marco Ortenzi is gratefully acknowledged.
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The present research was partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health, grant codes IZS LT 02/15 RC and IZS LT 01/17 RC.
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De Bonis, A., Uskoković, V., Barbaro, K. et al. Pulsed laser deposition temperature effects on strontium-substituted hydroxyapatite thin films for biomedical implants. Cell Biol Toxicol 36, 537–551 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10565-020-09527-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10565-020-09527-3