The effect of surface chemistry and nanotopography of titanium nitride (TiN) films on 3T3-L1 fibroblasts

Abstract

The cell-material interaction of 3T3-L1 fibroblasts with TiN films was studied in vitro. TiN films were deposited onto glass substrates to thicknesses of 0.2 and 1.0 microm by pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering. For comparison TiN films were deposited by closed field unbalanced magnetron sputter ion plating by Teer Coatings Ltd. (Hartlebury, UK) to result in TiN films with similar surface chemistries but having increased topographical features. TiN films were characterized using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The cell-material interaction was examined morphologically by monitoring fibroblast attachment and growth and comparing to a control substrate. At early time points increased numbers of 3T3-L1 fibroblasts were found to preferentially attach to TiN films with an increase in the percentage of surface interstitial nitrogen and also with decreased topographical features. At later time points the presence of nanotopography appeared to play a greater role than the effects of surface chemistry and resulted in increased numbers of attached 3T3-L1 fibroblasts. The results show that by changing the deposition route and parameters to produce TiN films, the resultant films can be used to investigate the cellular response to surfaces of differing chemistry and topography.

Surface characteristics and osteoblast cell response on TiN- and TiAlN-coated Ti implant

“…The XRD results were consistent with the results of Cyster et al [33] and Chien et al [17]. The peaks of TiN and TiAlN appeared at almost the same degree such as the (111) plane at 36.5, (200) plane at 42.6, (220) plane at 61.7 degrees.…”

“…Compared to the ground surface (0.26 µm), the TiN and TiAlN coated surface showed rather smooth surface (0.03 µm by TiN and 0.02 µm by TiAlN) [17]. Cyster et al [33] reported the surface roughness of TiN films deposited by four different methods to be in the range of 1.0-5.6 nm. They measured the roughness by AFM.…”

“…Using a 2D contact stylus profilometer, Groessner-Schreiber et al measured the roughness of TiN coating film to be 0.14 µm [34]. The roughness measured by different measuring system showed rather different roughness [33,34]. In this study, a 2D stylus profilometer was used to measure the surface roughness.…”

“…Nevertheless, the TiO 2 film is prone to destruction by the shearing forces acting on implant. This phenomenon can cause separation of the implant from the bone and enhance metal ion release and the formation of wear particles [33] and lowering the wear resistance [20,21].…”

A Substrate for Stem Cell Culture and Differentiation

“…Moreover, stem cells can be stimulated by chemical or topographical cues (10). At the moment, it is believed that stem cells can sense and initiate an appropriate response to the physicochemical properties of their extracellular matrix (ECM) or any substrate that they are cultured on, by regulating their complex signaling pathways (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Cells are naturally located in a chemically and topographically complicated environment in vivo, which is different from what is used commonly for in vitro culture conditions (17)(18)(19).…”