Rat osteoblasts growth on surface of plasma-sprayed bioceramic coatings

Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, TiO₂ and wollastonite coatings were deposited onto Ti-6Al-4V substrates employing atmospheric plasma spraying. Rat osteoblasts were subsequently seeded onto the surface of the coatings to evaluate the growth behavior of osteoblasts on the different materials. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the morphologies of the osteoblasts seeded onto the surface of the coatings for different duration of time. Our data indicate that it is difficult for the osteoblasts to survive and proliferate on the Al₂O₃ surface showing that this coating has very poor biocompatibility. Osteoblasts can, however, survive and proliferate slowly on the TiO₂ and ZrO ₂ coating surface indicating that these two coatings have certain cyto-compatibility while they cannot accelerate the proliferation very well on the surface of the wollastonite coating. Therefore, the biocompatibility of wollastonite coating is better than that of Al₂O₃, TiO₂ and ZrO₂ coatings.