Ultraviolet irradiation modification of poly(methyl methacrylate) titanium grafted surface for biological purpose

The modification of the surface of pure titanium (Ti) implant by grafting biomimetic polymer offers the possibility of camouflaging the synthetic origin of the implant to bone cells. In our previous studies, we have shown that with ultraviolet irradiation (UV) technology, polymers such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) (PNaSS) can be selectively grafted onto Ti surfaces. This technology offers the possibility to photochemically modify Ti-PMMA grafted surfaces by UV light with the formation of carboxylic acid groups that will allow the grafting of PNaSS. A biological study of functionalized Ti-PMMA-PNaSS surfaces in contact with bone cells was performed along with the physicochemical characterizations of the functionalization. The Fourier-transformed infrared spectra recorded in an attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) results confirmed that carboxylic acid sites (-OH, -CO, -COOH) were incorporated into the surface during UV light exposure. Moreover, the morphological images obtained with environmental scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the differentiation and mineralization results showed an improvement of osteoblast cells spreading on Ti-PMMA-PNaSS grafted surfaces.