Beneficial Effect of TaON-Ag Nanocomposite Titanium on Antibacterial Capacity in Orthopedic Application

Chih-Chien Hu; Chih-Hsiang Chang; Yuhan Chang; Jang-Hsing Hsieh; Steve Wen-Neng Ueng

doi:10.2147/IJN.S264303

Beneficial Effect of TaON-Ag Nanocomposite Titanium on Antibacterial Capacity in Orthopedic Application

Int J Nanomedicine. 2020 Oct 13:15:7889-7900. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S264303. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Chih-Chien Hu^{1

2

3

4}, Chih-Hsiang Chang^{1

2

3}, Yuhan Chang^{1

2

3}, Jang-Hsing Hsieh^{5

6}, Steve Wen-Neng Ueng^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Bone and Joint Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kweishan, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan.
² Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kweishan, Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan.
³ College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan 33302, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Xiamen Chang Gung Hospital, Xiamen, Fujian, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Materials Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, Taishan, Taipei 24301, Taiwan.
⁶ Center for Thin Film Technologies and Applications, Ming Chi University of Technology, Taishan, Taipei 24301, Taiwan.

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, a novel oxygenated nanocomposite thin film, TaON-Ag, was investigated in vitro and in vivo to evaluate its biocompatibility and antibacterial ability.

Material and methods: The antibacterial ability of TaON-Ag nanocomposite-coated titanium (Ti) was evaluated using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion susceptibility test. The effects of TaON-Ag nanocomposite-coated metal on osteogenesis were further evaluated in an in vitro osteogenic culture model with rat marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rMSCs). Furthermore, titanium rods coated with TaON-Ag were implanted into a rat femur fracture model either with or without osteomyelitis to investigate the effects of TaON-Ag in osteogenesis.

Results: The TaON-Ag-coated Ti exhibited an effective antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, and the Gram-negative strains Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using an osteogenic culture with rMSCs and a rat femoral fracture model, the TaON-Ag-coated Ti did not interfere with the ossification of rMSCs in vitro or during fracture healing in vivo. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) revealed that coating with TaON-Ag could inhibit pathogen adhesion and biofilm formation in both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

Conclusion: Using the proposed novel oxygenation process, TaON-Ag nanocomposite-coated Ti yielded robust biocompatibility and antibacterial ability against common microorganisms in orthopedic infections, thereby demonstrating potential for use in clinical applications.

Keywords: antibacterial ability; biofilm; ossification; silver nanoparticles.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry*
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
Femoral Neck Fractures / microbiology
Materials Testing
Nanocomposites / chemistry*
Orthopedics*
Osteogenesis / drug effects
Osteomyelitis / prevention & control
Prostheses and Implants
Rats
Silver / chemistry*
Titanium / chemistry*
Titanium / pharmacology*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Silver
Titanium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from CMRPG3C1041, CMRPG3C1042, CMRPG3C1043, and CMRPG3G0491 from the Chang Gung Medical Foundation and MOST 107-2314-B-182A-031 of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China. In addition, we would like to thank Dr. Mei-Feng Chen for helpful discussions related to this study and the Center for Advanced Molecular Imaging and Translation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou.