Influence of surface pretreatment of titanium- and cobalt-based biomaterials on covalent immobilization of fibrillar collagen

Abstract

Collagen type-I is a major component of the extracellular matrix of most tissues and it is increasingly utilized for surface engineering of biomaterials to accelerate receptor-mediated cell adhesion. In the present study, coatings with layers of fibrillar type-I collagen were prepd. on titanium, titanium alloy, and cobalt alloy to improve initial osteoblast adhesion and implant-tissue integration. To suppress the quick in vivo degrdn. rate of collagen the deposited layers were covalently immobilized at the metal surfaces as well as chem. cross-linked. The application of different oxidn. techniques to the metallic substrates resulted in surfaces with varying hydroxyl group contents, which directly influenced the amt. of immobilized silane coupling agents. It was found that a high d. of surface-bound coupling agents increased the stability of the covalently linked collagen layers. After coating of metallic biomaterials with a cross-linked collagen layer, an improved cellular response of human osteoblast-like cells (MG-63) in vitro could be recognized.