Metal oxide wire tips provide perfect surface for bone growth

Researchers there have found that bone cells grow and reproduce faster on a textured surface than they do on a smooth one, and they grow best when they can cling to a microscopic surface made of tiny metal oxide wires.

In tests, the wires are said to have boosted cell growth by nearly 80 per cent compared to other surfaces, which suggests that the coating would help healthy bone form a strong bond with an implant faster.

The engineers have developed an affordable technique for creating the wires, which they describe in a paper in the July 2013 issue of the journal Ceramics International.

‘What’s really exciting about this technique is that we don’t have to carve the nanowires from a solid piece of metal or alloy. We can grow them from scratch, by exploiting the physics and chemistry of the materials,’ said Sheikh Akbar, professor of materials science and engineering at Ohio State. ‘That’s why we call our process ‘nanostructures by material design.’’