DEVELOPMENT OF TITANIUM SURFACES WITH ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY USING BIOACTIVE GLASS COATINGS.

• Grant number: 13/05856-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2013
• End date: May 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Edgar Dutra Zanotto
• Grantee: Clever Ricardo Chinaglia
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07793-6 - CEPIV - Center for Teaching, Research and Innovation in Glass, AP.CEPID

Abstract

A failed implant requires necessarily a revision surgery meaning serious risk for the patients. About 10% of such failures occur due to bacterial infections which are the most serious and difficult to treat. Attached and growing bacterial colonies rapidly produce an extracellular polysaccharide matrix - biofilms, which protects them against antibiotics and the body's innate defense system. In orthopedic implants, they can progress to severe bone infections (osteomyelitis), which can cause amputation and even death. A promising strategy for reducing such a problem is to prevent the initial attachment of bacteria to implants and devices surfaces. In this context, the objective of this research is to produce a surface with antibacterial property by coating it with a discontinuous layer of a highly bioactive and bacteriostatic glass. In order to enhance such a bacteriostatic characteristic we will produce and evaluate a new formulation of this bioactive glass doped with silver. Silver and its compounds have been widely used for centuries as bactericide. The intended coating is composed by micrometric "islands" of the bioactive glass to be totally consumed between 7 and 10 days - when the initial stages of the osseointegration takes place. After being totally consumed there will be no trace of metalceramic interface, whose instability is a common cause of failures in implants. The surface thus obtained, besides its enhanced bacteriostatic characteristics, should also exhibit osseoconduction, osseoproduction, osseoinduction, angiogenic and anti-inflammatory properties, inherent to the bioactive glass, contributing to substantial increase of implants lifespan.