PLGA-amoxicillin-loaded layer formed on anodized Ti alloy as a hybrid material for dental implant applications.

In this paper, the preparation of a functional hybrid coating loaded with a drug (amoxicillin) on a promising titanium alloy - Ti-15Mo alloy is presented. The titanium alloy surface was anodized in solution with bioactive compounds to obtain a porous oxide layer favorable for MG-63 osteoblast-like cell adhesion. Then, a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) loaded with amoxicillin layer was formed using a dip-coating technique to cover the oxide layer, without filling in all of the pores. The morphology of the surface was evaluated using scanning electron microscopy supported by 3D Roughness Reconstruction software. The surface treatment of the Ti-15Mo alloy surface caused the surface roughness to increase up to 1.71 μm. The anodization process caused the Ti-15Mo alloy surface to become slightly more hydrophilic; however, the formation of the PLGA layer loaded with drug increased the contact angle to 96.5° ± 2.2°, respectively. After 4 weeks of polymer layer degradation, the registered signals on the 1H NMR spectrum were identical to the signals registered for lactic acid (LAc), which confirms that the polymer layer was degraded within a short period of time. The concentration of drug released into the artificial saliva was investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) up to 12 h of coatings immersion. During the first hour of coating degradation in artificial saliva, and the concentration of the drug (13 μg/ml) was enough to inhibit bacterial growth of S. aureus and S. epidermidis. These results were confirmed by agar plate diffusion method and evaluation of the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). The cytocompatibility of the materials was determined using the osteoblast-like cells MG-63, and the viability and cell morphology (live/dead staining) were also evaluated. The results showed that amoxicillin influences the osteoblast-like MG-63 cells' behavior during cell culture, especially for the first few hours. The influence on the type of surface treatment on MG-63 cell behavior during 7 days of culture is discussed in this paper. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a fast-degrading layer with amoxicillin has been deposited on previously anodized Ti surface. The formation of functional coating may find application as a cytocompatible coating to prevent bacterial adhesion on long-term implant surfaces.