Titanium dental implants surface-immobilized with gold nanoparticles as osteoinductive agents for rapid osseointegration.

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are quite attractive materials for use as osteogenic agents due to their potential effects on the stimulation of osteoblast differentiation. In this study, an osseo-integrated titanium (Ti) implant surface coated with GNPs was used for promotion of bone regeneration. We prepared a silanized Ti surface by chemical treatment of (3-Mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and immobilized the GNP layer (Ti-GNP) on their surfaces via Au-S bonding. The GNP layer is uniformly immobilized on the surface and the layer covers the titanium oxide surface well, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The Ti-GNP was used to investigate the effectiveness of this system both in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro results showed that the Ti-GNP significantly enhances the osteogenic differentiation with increased mRNA expression of osteogenic differentiation specific genes in human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Furthermore, the in vivo results showed that Ti-GNP had a significant influence on the osseous interface formation. Through these in vitro and vivo tests, we found that Ti-GNP can be useful as osseo-integration inducing dental implants for formation of an osseous interface and maintenance of nascent bone formation.