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.