Infection Mitigation Efficacy of Photoactive Titania on Orthopedic Implant Materials

Abdul-Majeed Azad,Ryan Hershey,Asem Aboelzahab,Vijay Goel

doi:10.4061/2011/571652

Abdul-Majeed Azad, Ryan Hershey + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.4061/2011/571652

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Abstract

In order to impede infection and achieve accelerated wound healing in the postorthopaedic surgery patients, a simple and benign procedure for creating nanotubular or nanofibrillar structure of photoactive TiO2 on the surface of Ti plates and wires is described. The nanoscale TiO2 films on titanium were grown by hydrothermal processing in one case and by anodization in the presence of dilute mineral acids under mild and benign conditions in the other. Confocal microscopy results demonstrated at least 50% reduction in the population of E. coli colonies (concentration 2.15 × 107 cells/mL) on TiO2-coated implants upon an IR exposure of up to 30 s; it required ∼20 min of exposure to UV beam for the same effect. These findings suggest the probability of eliminating wound infection during and after orthopedic surgical procedures by brief illumination of photoactive titania films on the implants with an IR beam.

Highlights

Disease-carrying pathogens in the body destroy healthy tissue but can eventually multiply and spread throughout the blood stream causing infection
Anodization was employed to create nanotubular structures on titanium plates and wires. Exposure of these implants coated with titania films to IR laser for up to 30 s, demonstrated effective inhibition of E. coli growth, opening the possibility of using Ti implants coated with TiO2 nanocrystals or nanotubes as means of effective disinfectants for the prevention of major surgical site infections
The titania films grown by various techniques described in the previous section on Ti coupons, wires, and on implants were characterized by multiple techniques, such as XRD, SEM, elemental mapping, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)

Summary

Introduction

Disease-carrying pathogens in the body destroy healthy tissue but can eventually multiply and spread throughout the blood stream causing infection. Several methods were developed for creating nanostructured coating of titania on “commercial purity” titanium (cp Ti) coupons and implants. Titanium coupons precoated with TiO2 films were used. As another viable technique, anodization was employed to create nanotubular structures on titanium plates and wires. Anodization was employed to create nanotubular structures on titanium plates and wires Exposure of these implants coated with titania films to IR laser for up to 30 s, demonstrated effective inhibition of E. coli growth, opening the possibility of using Ti implants coated with TiO2 nanocrystals or nanotubes as means of effective disinfectants for the prevention of major surgical site infections. The demonstration of the efficacy of IR light towards infection mitigation in terms of the biocidal activity of titania-coated implant material is the first of its kind

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Results

Conclusion