Behavior of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells on titanium oxide films fabricated by plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition

Our previous research results have shown that Ti–O films with appropriate characteristics possessed good blood compatibility. In this paper, we synthesized Ti–O films using plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIII-D) and investigated the characteristics and the biological behavior of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) onto film surface. The structure and composition of the Ti–O films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and atom force microscopy (AFM). The surface energy was measured by a contact angle method. The in vitro HUVEC-cultured investigation of Ti–O film surface justified that the biological behavior of HUVEC on different structure surfaces was significantly different. The adherence and growth of HUVEC to crystalline Ti–O film surface were much better than that of amorphous Ti–O film. The mechanism based on the relationship between the film characteristics and biological behavior of endothelial cells (ECs) is discussed.