Effect of doping different Si source on Ca-P bioceramic coating fabricated by laser cladding.

The doping of silicon (Si) has been proved to improve the bioactivity of Ca-P ceramics. In light of this thinking, in the present study, Ca-P coatings with La2O3 by addition of 10 wt% SiO2 and 10 wt% diatomaceous earth (DE) were fabricated by laser cladding on Ti6Al4V, respectively. Coating doped without Si was also fabricated as the comparison group for the experiment. The effect of two different Si sources on the surface morphology, microstructure, microhardness, and bioactivity was systematically studied. The experimental results show that the Si-doped coating is of rough surface morphology, and the addition of DE significantly reduces the number of cracks and improves the microhardness. The X-ray diffraction results reveal that the amount of bioactive phase tricalcium-phosphate (TCP) and hydroxyapatite (HA) reaches maximum in the DE-doped coating. After soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF), the precipitate of bone-like apatite in the DE-doped coating is significantly higher than that of the other coatings.

Study on microstructure, microhardness, bioactivity, and biocompatibility of La2 O3 -containing bioceramic coating doping SiO2 fabricated by laser cladding.

To solve the lack of strength of calcium phosphate ceramic coatings in load-bearing applications, gradient Ca-P bioceramic coatings doped with La2 O3 and SiO2 are fabricated by laser cladding on Ti-6Al-4 V. The effect of SiO2 on microstructure, microhardness, bioactivity, and biocompatibility of coatings was investigated. The experimental results illustrate that the coating doped with La2 O3 and SiO2 has excellent metallurgical bonding. The XRD analysis confirms that the amount of hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate in the coating reached maximum when doping amount of SiO2 is 10 wt %. SiO2 -doped coatings show a significantly higher bone-like apatite precipitation after immersion in SBF than that of other coatings. in vitro experiment also shows that coating with 10 wt % SiO2 is more suitable for the attachment and proliferation of MG63 cells, indicating that coating with 10 wt % SiO2 exhibits best bioactivity and biocompatibility. These results suggest that the addition of SiO2 improves the bonding strength, bioactivity, and biocompatibility of coatings.

Biomimetic dual-oriented/bilayered electrospun scaffold for vascular tissue engineering.

Natural blood vessels have a multi-layered, cell-specific oriented spatial structure, mimicking of this structure is a promising way for blood vessel regeneration. In this study, a newly developed dual-oriented/bilayered small-diameter tubular scaffold was electrospun using a mixture of poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL), poly (D, L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and gelatin. The nanofiber orientations of the bilayers were spatially perpendicular to each other, aiming at guiding cell-specific orientation of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) in vitro respectively. The results showed that the hydrophilicity of scaffold was greatly improved by gelatin, and the mechanical property of this scaffold was the best among all. The in vitro degradation demonstrated that by mixing of three biodegradable polymers, a relatively fast degradation rate was achieved. After SMCs and ECs were seeded on scaffolds, cell viability, cellular morphology, and cytoskeleton behavior were investigated. The results revealed that as-electrospun scaffolds could promote both SMCs and ECs proliferation. Moreover, topographic cues offered by oriented nanofibers could guide the growth and orientation of SMCs and ECs. Therefore, the dual-oriented/bilayered electrospun scaffold is a superior structural and functional analogue to natural blood vessel and a potential candidate for vascular tissue engineering.

The controllable lanthanum ion release from Ca-P coating fabricated by laser cladding and its effect on osteoclast precursors.

Several studies have suggested that rare earth oxides can improve properties of bioceramic coating, and bone resorption of osteoclast can be inhibited by rare earth ion releasing certain concentration. However, the effects of lanthanum ion (La3+) released from Ca-P coating on osteoclast precursors is not clear. In this work, La2O3-doped gradient bioceramic coatings were fabricated on Ti alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) by laser cladding with mixed powders of CaHPO4·2H2O, CaCO3 and La2O3. And the bioactivity, mechanical properties and the La3+ release from coating were investigated in vitro. Human osteosarcoma cells (MG63) were used as a cell model to evaluate the biocompatibility of coatings. Mouse macrophage RAW264.7 cells were cultured on coatings to study the effect of La3+ release from Ca-P coating on osteoclast precursors. The XRD results reveal that the amount of HA + TCP reaches maximum (2θ = 32-33°) when the content of La2O3 is 0.6 wt%, and the proliferation of MG63 cells is up to highest value, which indicates that compared with other groups, the bioceramic coating with 0.6 wt% La2O3 is of best biocompatibility. Furthermore, the differentiation of RAW264.7 cells into osteoclast could be inhibited by controllable releasing La3+ from Ca-P coating when soaked in SBF, which demonstrates that controllable La3+ release from Ca-P coating is an effective method to prevent osteoclast formation. And a prospective therapy is provided to cure the disease of wear debris in replacement of artificial joint.

[The effect of technological parameters of wide-band laser cladding on microstructure and sinterability of gradient bioceramics composite coating].

The gradient bioceramics coating was prepared on the surface of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by using wide-band laser cladding. And the effect of technological parameters of wide-band laser cladding on microstructure and sinterability of gradient bioceramics composite coating was studied. The experimental results indicated that in the circumstances of size of laser doze D and scanning velocity V being fixed, with the increasement of power P, the density of microstructure in bioceramics coating gradually degraded; with the increasement of power P, the pore rate of bioceramics gradually became high. While P = 2.3 KW, the bioceramics coating with dense structure and lower pore rate (5.11%) was obtained; while P = 2.9 KW, the bioceramics coating with disappointing density was formed and its pore rate was up to 21.32%. The microhardness of bioceramics coating demonstrated that while P = 2.3 KW, the largest value of microhardness of bioceramics coating was 1100 HV. Under the condition of our research work, the optimum technological parameters for preparing gradient bioceramics coating by wide-band laser cladding are: P = 2.3 KW, V = 145 mm/min, D = 16 mm x 2 mm.

Three-dimensional roselike α-Ni(OH)2 assembled from nanosheet building blocks for non-enzymatic glucose detection.

Glucose detection plays very important roles in diagnostics and management of diabetes. The search for novel catalytic materials with appropriate architectures is the key step in the fabrication of highly sensitive glucose sensors. In this work, α-Ni(OH)2 roselike structures (Ni(OH)2-RS) assembled from nanosheet building blocks were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method through the hydrolysis of nickel chloride in the mixed solvents of water and ethanol with the assistance of polyethylene glycol (PEG). The structure and morphology of the roselike α-Ni(OH)2 were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm measurement. TEM and FE-SEM images showed that the synthesized Ni(OH)2 was roselike and the size of the leaf-shaped nanosheet was about 5 nm in thickness, which leads to larger active surface areas and faster electron transfer for the detection of glucose. Compared with the bare GCE and bulk Ni(OH)2/GCE, the Ni(OH)2-RS/GCE had higher catalytic activity toward the oxidation of glucose. Under the optimal conditions, the Ni(OH)2-RS/GCE offers a variety of merits, such as a wide linear response window for glucose concentrations ranging from 0.87 µM to 10.53 mM, short response time (3s), a lower detection limit of 0.08 µM (S/N=3), as well as long term stability and repeatability.