In vitro performance of Ag-incorporated hydroxyapatite and its adhesive porous coatings deposited by electrostatic spraying

Bacterial infection of implanted materials is a significant complication that might require additional surgical operations for implant retrieval. As an antibacterial biomaterial, Ag-containing hydroxyapatite (HA) may be a solution to reduce the incidences of implant associated infections. In this study, pure, 0.2 mol% and 0.3 mol% Ag incorporated HA powders were synthesized via a precipitation method. Colloidal precursor dispersions prepared from these powders were used to deposit porous coatings onto titanium and stainless steel substrates via electrostatic spraying. The porous coating layers obtained with various deposition times and heat treatment conditions were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Scratch tests were conducted to assess the adhesion strength of the coating. Antibacterial activity of Ag-incorporated HA was tested towards Escherichia coli (E. coli) at various incubation times. Osteoblast adhesion on Ag-incorporated HA was evaluated to assess biocompatibility. Improvement in adhesion strength of the coating layer was observed after the heat treatment process due to mutual ionic diffusion at the interface. The Ag-incorporated HA killed all viable E. coli after 24 h of incubation, whereas no antibacterial activity was detected with pure HA. In addition, in vitro cell culture tests demonstrated osteoblast adhesion similar to pure HA, which indicated good cytocompatibility. In summary, results of this study provided significant promise for the future study of Ag-incorporated HA for numerous medical applications.