This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Titanium alloy photocatalyst shows potential for preventing bacterial implant colonization

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

SAN FRANCISCO — A titanium alloy photocatalyst could potentially be used for preventing bacterial colonization and infection of percutaneous implants, according to an experimental study presented here at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

"These results indicate that titanium alloy photocatalyst could inhibit colonization of the percutaneous implant and establishment of infection," the study authors noted.

Yoshinobu Oka and colleagues at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan, investigated the ability of a titanium alloy photocatalyist for preventing bacterial colonization.

The study evaluated three types of titanium alloys: Ti-6Al-4V, Ti-6Al-2Nb-1Ta and Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al. Each alloy was exposed to direct oxidation to create a titanium dioxide photocatalyst on the alloy's surface.

The researchers then irradiated each alloy using ultraviolet (UVA) radiation, and compared the resulting antimicrobial effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, according to the study.

They also irradiated a control sample of a P. aeruginosa bacterial suspension to serve as a control.

Investigators found that, even after 30 minutes, the alloys exposed to the UVA photocatalyst all showed significantly lower bacterial counts (P < .01), according to the study.

In particular, the Ti-6Al-4V alloy showed especially reduced bacterial counts compared to controls, the authors noted.

"This photocatalyst is made of commercially [available] titanium alloy and uses no antibacterial agents. That means [there is] no chance for side effects or the emergence of resistant bacteria," the authors said in the study.

"The strong oxidizing and reducing power of surface titanium dioxide photocatalyst, which is by reactive oxygen species, decomposes organics at the surface by UVA irradiation," they said.

For more information:

• Oka Y, Kim WC, Yoshida T, et al. Antimicrobial titanium alloy with photocatalyst for percutaneous implant colonization. Presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society. March 2-5, 2008. San Francisco.