Nanostructured titanium foam with metal ions incorporation for promoting osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells

Titanium foam (TiF) as a kind of implantable biomaterials has good mechanical properties and three-dimension (3D) micro-porous structure, which has potential applications in bone tissue engineering. However, their clinical application is technically restricted by their bio-inert property with limited cross-interaction with biological microenvironment and cells. In this work, a facile approach was proposed to construct surface nanostructure and metal ion incorporation for titanium foam to regulate the attachment and osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). This modification was realized by a hydrothermal treatment following a Mg²⁺ or Ca²⁺ ion-substitution process. The assessment of cell morphology, viability, gene and protein expression of MSCs grown on the surface nanostructured titanium form and different ion corporation showed that the surface nanostructure and Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ incorporation with proper concentration promoted the osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. Once beyond the proper concentration range, the promoting effect of osteogenesis was reduced. It provides a promising method for constructing 3D biomaterial in bone tissue engineering. - Highlights: • A novelty 3D biomaterial titanium foam is proposed. • The modified Ti Foam is beneficial to cell adhesion and proliferation. • The sample after ion exchange promoted the osteogenic differentiation of MSCs.