Protein adsorption on biomaterials: characterization and comparison among different implantable materials
Protein adsorption on biomaterials: characterization and comparison among different implantable materials
Description: Protein adsorption is an early event on a surface after implantation and it has a strong effect in the following biological response of an implant: tissue integration, inflammatory response, eventual bacterial infection. The ability to control the formation of a protein layer on the surface of an implantable material can be a major step in the design and development of novel biomaterials. The adsorption of proteins (in particular albumin and fibronectin) is investigated on different biomaterials, such as titanium, titanium alloy and bioactive glasses, with surface treatments specifically developed for improved osseointegration. Several different techniques, conventional and not (optical profilometry, SEM, contact angle, solid surface zeta potential, XPS, FTIR, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy, fluorescence microscopy), are applied in order to fully characterize the surfaces and to investigate how proteins adsorb in terms of amount, conformation and protein-material interactions. The aim of this research is to increase the knowledge about how biomaterial surface features influence the adsorption of different proteins.
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Keywords
Biomaterials, Titanium, Protein, Surface Characterization
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