Adhesion, activation, and aggregation of blood platelets and biofilm formation on the surfaces of titanium alloys Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al7Nb.

Titanium alloys are still on the top list of fundamental materials intended for dental, orthopedics, neurological, and cardiovascular implantations. Recently, a special attention has been paid to vanadium-free titanium alloy, Ti6Al7Nb, that seems to represent higher biocompatibility than traditional Ti6Al4V alloy. Surprisingly, these data are not thoroughly elaborated in the literature; particularly there is a lack of comparative experiments conducted simultaneously and at the same conditions. Our study fills these shortcomings in the field of blood contact and microbiological colonization. To observe platelets adhesion and biofilm formation on the surfaces of compared titanium alloys, fluorescence microscope Olympus GX71 and scanning electron microscope HITACHI S-3000N were used. Additionally, flow cytometry analysis of platelets aggregation and activation in the whole blood after contact with sample surface, as an essential tool for biomaterial thrombocompatibility assessment, was proposed. As a result of our study it was demonstrated that polished surfaces of Ti6Al7Nb and Ti6Al4V alloys after contact with whole citrated blood and E. coli bacterial cells exhibit a considerable difference. Overall, it was established that Ti6Al4V has distinct tendency to higher thrombogenicity, more excessive bacterial biofilm formation and notable cytotoxic properties in comparison to Ti6Al7Nb. However, we suggest these studies should be extended for other types of cells and biological objects.