Influence of sodium hypochlorite treatment of electropolished and magnetoelectropolished nitinol surfaces on adhesion and proliferation of MC3T3 pre-osteoblast cells

The influence of 6 % sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) treatment on adhesion and proliferation of MC3T3 pre-osteoblast cells seeded on electropolished (EP) and magnetoelectropolished (MEP) nitinol surfaces were investigated. The chemistry, topography, roughness, surface energy, wettability of EP and MEP nitinol surfaces before and after NaClO treatment were studied with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), profilometry, and contact angle meter. In vitro interaction of osteoblast cell and NaClO treated EP and MEP nitinol surfaces were assessed after 3 days of incubation by scanning electron microscopy. The XPS analysis shows that NaClO treatment increases oxygen content especially in subsurface oxide layer of EP and MEP nitinol. The changes of both basic components of nitinol, namely nickel and titanium in oxide layer, were negligible. The NaClO treatment did not influence physico-morphological surface properties of EP and MEP nitinol to a big extent. The osteoblast cells show remarkable adherence and proliferation improvement on NaClO treated EP and MEP nitinol surfaces. After 3 days of incubation they show almost total confluence on both NaClO treated surfaces. The present study shows that NaClO treatment of EP and MEP nitinol surfaces alters oxide layer by enriching it in oxygen and by this improves bone cell-nitinol interaction.