The increasing usage of metallic implants is still associated with poor implant integration, incidence of bacterial inflammation and mechanical instability, which may lead to prolonged patient care and morbidity. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) is a method that can be rapidly employed to functionalize the surface of metallic implants by creating coatings composed of bioactive materials, biopolymers and phytotherapeutic drugs [1]. Thus, the aim of the current work is to prepare multicomponent bioactive and antibacterial coatings on titanium substrates by EPD. The preliminary studies focused on the optimization of EPD of coatings based on the natural protein zein. The coatings were then further developed as zein was utilized to form drug-containing nanoparticles by in-situ antisolvent precipitation method, while sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is designed as a coating matrix due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability [2]. In order to endow bioactivity and to enhance the antibacterial properties of the coatings copper-doped bioactive glass particles were incorporated in the polymeric matrix. Statistical tools were used to optimize the suspension composition and deposition parameters. The morphology, chemical composition, wettability, drug release behaviour, bioactivity, adhesion strength to the substrate and antibacterial properties of the coatings were analysed. The results showed that the multicomponent coatings are suitable materials for potential applications in bone tissue regeneration.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The authors would like to acknowledge DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Germany), project number: BO 1191/25-1, for funding.

REFERENCES:

[1] M. A. Akhtar et al., Surface & Coatings Technology, 405, 2021, 126657.

[2] W. Lan et al., Coatings, 8, 2018, 291.