Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammation Activity of Titanium Alloy by Efficient Copper Immobilization

Titanium alloy plates are often used for fixation to bone. However, the plates often need to be removed due to infection and adverse inflammation. To avoid these problems, we immobilized copper, which has antibacterial effects and low cytotoxicity, on titanium plates by immersing the titanium in copper-tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane complex solutions. The amount of copper immobilized on the titanium alloy surface was dependent on the amount of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and the pH of the solutions. The maximum amount of copper immobilized on the titanium alloy surface was about 20 atomic%, without any change in the surface morphological characteristics. The obtained titanium alloy with immobilized copper exhibited antibacterial and anti-inflammation properties without cytotoxicity.