Effect of surface-treatments on flexibility and guided bone regeneration of titanium barrier membrane

Titanium barrier membranes are prepared to investigate the effect of surface-treatments, such as machining, electropolishing, anodizing, and electropolishing + TiN coating, on the biocompatibility and physical properties of the membranes. The surface roughness (Ra) of the membrane decreases from machining ($0.37{\pm}0.09{\mu}m$), TiN coating ($0.22{\pm}0.09{\mu}m$), electropolishing ($0.20{\pm}0.03{\mu}m$), to anodizing ($0.15{\pm}0.03{\mu}m$). The highest ductility (24.50 %) is observed for the electropolished Ti membrane. No evidence of causing cell lysis or toxicity is found for the membranes regardless of the surface-treatments. Cell adhesion results of L-929 and MG-63 show that the machined Ti membrane exhibits the highest cell adhesion while the electropolished membrane is the best membrane for the L-929 cell proliferation after 7 days. However, no appreciable difference in MG-63 cell proliferation among variously surface-treated membranes is detected, suggesting that the electropolished Ti membrane is likely to be the best membrane due to the synergic combination of tailored flexibility and excellent fibroblast proliferation.