Abstract:
This in vitro study was designed to investigate platelet adhesion and fibrin clot formation on different crystallinities of sol-gel derived TiO₂ thin film using non anti-coagulated human fresh whole blood. TiO₂ thin film was prepared on glass slide substrate by sol-gel dip coating technique to generate 1-4 layers of film and heat-treated at different temperatures (200℃and 550℃). Surface nano-topography, crystallinity and element composition of TiO₂ film were determined by atomic force microscope, x-ray diffraction and EDX techniques respectively. The crystallinity of the TiO₂ thin film heat-treated at 200℃, 1 cycle (200-1) was amorphous, while that at 550℃, 4 cycles (550-4) was anatase. These two different crystalline TiO₂ films were subjected to a study of initial biological reactions: platelet adhesion and fibrin clot formation utilizing human venous fresh whole blood. SEM image illustrated that both 200-1 and 550-4 did not show different effects on platelet adhesion but the 550-4 exhibited higher degree of fibrin clot formation than the 200-1. The results suggested that the crystallinity of TiO₂ in anatase phase demonstrated a better result of fibrin clot formation.