Invited Paper TF-WeE7
Metal Oxide thin Films for Medical Applications

Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 7:40 pm, Room Makai

Nowadays, it is generally accepted that surfaces are critically important to nearly all aspects of biomedical technology since most of the biological reactions occur at the interfaces. In vitro studies have demonstrated that the surface properties are directly related to important biological events, such as protein adsorption, bacterial attachment and cell growth. In the case of medical implants, during the last years the research has evolved from the improvement of bulk properties and design of the implants to the development of a variety of bio-functional surface modifications, such as surface topography at the nanoscale, adhesion of growth factors or coating deposition. There is an extensive research to find methods of designing tailored surfaces, which might act as stimuli to guide specific cell responses according to the specific medical application.

This presentation explores one of the many surfaces modifications that have been proposed; plasma deposited coatings. The talk is then divided into two parts. Firstly, a short review about the specific needs to improve odontological implants. Secondly, the results of the physical, chemical and biological characterization of metal oxide thin films (TiO₂, ZrO₂, Nb₂O₅ and Ta₂O₅) deposited by magnetron sputtering are presented. The factors considered of biological relevance in order to understand the surface interaction and that will be presented include: a) protein adsorption on the metal oxides studied by Ellipsometric Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy and X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy, b) Corrosion behaviour of the oxides immersed in simulated biological solutions, c) Bacterial attachment and d) Cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation.