Effect of Ar plasma etching of Ti–O film surfaces on biological behavior of endothelial cell

In this paper, we synthesized titanium oxide films using unbalanced magnetron sputtering and etched subsequently the surface of the Ti–O films by Ar plasma to obtain different surface morphology. The surface characteristics of the etched Ti–O films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Atom force microscopy (AFM). The wettability of etched Ti–O film was measured by a contact angle method. The biological behavior of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) onto Ti–O film surfaces was evaluated by the in vitro HUVECs cultured experiment. The analysis results of film surface characteristics indicated that the structure of Ti–O film was uninfluenced after being etched by Ar plasma, but the composition of films were changed from nonstoichiometric to stoichiometric due to etching process, and the surface roughness of Ti–O films was decreased after being etched. Investigation on ECs cultured on Ti–O film surfaces shows that the etched Ti–O film surface could be accepted by ECs in a survival period, and the biological behavior of ECs was significantly varied as the Ti–O film surfaces etched in different degree. The adherence, growth and proliferation of HUVECs are in good state on stoichiometric TiO2 film surface with a certain range of roughness, and proper wettability. The work indicated that the etched Ti–O film surfaces with certain characteristics are helpful for seeding ECs. Furthermore, the biocompatibility mechanism of ECs on films based on the relationship between the Ti–O film characteristics and biological behavior of ECs is preliminarily analyzed.