With its excellent anticorrosion and biocompatibility,
tantalum, as a promising endosseous implant or implant coating, is attracting more and more attention. For improving physicochemical property and biocompatibility, the research of
tantalum surface modification has increased. Tantalum oxide (Ta
2O
5) nanotube films can be produced on
tantalum by controlling the conditions of anodization and annealing. The objective of our present study was to investigate the influence of Ta
2O
5 nanotube films on pure
tantalum properties related with anticorrosion, protein adsorption, and biological function of rabbit bone mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs). The polarization curve was measured, the adsorption of bovine serum albumin and fibronectin to Ta
2O
5 nanotubes was detected, and the morphology and actin cytoskeletons of the rBMSCs were observed via fluorescence microscopy, and the adhesion and proliferation of the rBMSCs, as well as the osteogenic differentiation potential on
tantalum specimens, were examined quantificationally by MTT and real-time PCR technology. The results showed that Ta
2O
5 nanotube films have high anticorrosion capability and can increase the protein adsorption to
tantalum and promote the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of rBMSCs, as well as the mRNA expression of osteogenic gene such as Osterix, ALP, Collagen-I, and Osteocalcin on
tantalum. This study suggests that Ta
2O
5 nanotube films can improve the anticorrosion, biocompatibility, and osteoinduction of pure
tantalum, which provides the theoretical elaboration for development of
tantalum endosseous implant or implant coating to a certain extent.
Keywords:
Ta2O5 nanotube array; anticorrosion; protein adsorption; bone mesenchymal stem cell; osteogenesis-related genes; biocompatibility