Effect of Composition and Surface Properties of Medical Grade Titanium Alloy Samples on the Ability to Maintain Escherichia coli Adhesion and Biofilm Formation

Influence of six types of blasting and electrolytic-plasma polishing on the surface roughness and wettability and interaction with the bacterium Escherichia coli of two commercial titanium-based alloys used in medicine, VT1-0 (pure titanium) and VT6 (titanium alloy with aluminum and vanadium), as well as the Ti–Nb–Zr alloy being developed at the Baikov Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMET RAS), was studied. It was noted that all the obtained surfaces are wettable; the wetting angle is naturally the higher, the lower the surface roughness; however, in the case of all materials after sand blasting with mixtures with a wide range of particle sizes, an increase in the wetting angle is noted. All metal samples do not have antibacterial activity and do not contribute to the formation of a sterile zone. The ability to form biofilms from the bacterium E. coli on the surface of metals was studied. It was shown that their number is significantly less in the presence of samples compared to the control. The developed Ti–Nb–Zr alloy, which potentially has better biomechanical compatibility than the commercial ones used, showed no deterioration in surface characteristics and no effect on bacterial growth.