Cytocompatibility and Antibiotic Effects of Titanium Surface Coated with Chlorhexidine

Introduction: Titanium has been successfully used in dental implants for its favorable biological response. However, implant failure due to infection were often occurred by a complex microbial exposure. A possible solution that could prevent initial infections could be to modify the implant surface with an antimicrobial coating while maintaining biocompatibility to host cells. Chlorhexidine (CHX) is effective against a wide variety of bacteria as well as fungi.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the cytocompatibilty and antibiotic effects of CHX-treated titanium surface.

Methods: Anodized titanium specimens (10 x 10 x 1 mm) were coated with different poly(lactide) (PLA) solution (0.5, 1, 5 %) containing 0.2 % CHX. The cytocompatibility of each specimen was determined by measuring MTT assay at 24 hours after soaking the specimen in distilled water. The results were statistically analyzed (n=12, ANOVA, Tukey HSD, p<0.05). Antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureous was tested with the agar diffusion method.

Results: Results of the MTT assay revealed that the only anodized titanium specimens were significantly higher in cell proliferation and viability than the CHX and PLA solution (0.5, 1, 5 %) treated titanium specimens (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between different PLA solution related to cell viability (p>0.05). Regarding the immediate antibacterial effect for S. aureous, all the tested specimens containing CHX showed inhibitions of the strain with larger zones for the lower PLA concentration(0.5> 1> 5 %).

Conclusions: The results of this in vitro investigation demonstrated that CHX and PLA solution coated titanium specimens exhibited antibacterial effects against S. aureous but they also showed mild cytotoxicity.

This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government (MOST) (No. R13-2003-013-01001-0)