Proteomic profile of the saliva and plasma protein layer adsorbed on Ti–Zr alloy: the effect of sandblasted and acid-etched surface treatment

Abstract

Titanium–zirconium (Ti–Zr) alloy has been widely used as a biomaterial for implant devices, and it is commonly treated by sandblasting followed by acid etching (SLA) to improve biological responses. Although protein adsorption is the first biological response, the effect of this SLA treatment on the proteomic profile of proteins adsorbed from saliva and blood plasma has not been tested. In this study, the proteomic profile was evaluated by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Streptococcus sanguinis was used to test whether the protein layer affects bacterial adhesion. SLA treatment affected the proteomic profile, showing exclusive proteins adsorbed from saliva (14) and plasma (3). However, both groups exhibited close patterns of intensity for common proteins, molecular functions and biological processes mediated by proteins. Interestingly, Ti–Zr_SLA showed higher bacterial adhesion (∼1.9 fold over) for the surface coated with plasma proteins. Therefore, SLA treatment of Ti–Zr alloy changed the proteomic profile, which may affect bacterial adhesion.

Keywords:

• Titanium
• zirconium
• proteomic
• proteins
• saliva
• plasma

Acknowledgments

The authors also thank the Oral Biochemistry Lab at Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), for providing their microbiology facility and the Mass Spectrometry Facility at the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio) at the Brazilian Center of Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) for the proteomic analysis facility.

Disclosure statement

The authors confirm that there are no conflicts of interest associated with this study.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the volunteers for their valuable participation. This study was financed by the State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant number 2015/23118-2 and 2016/11470-6) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.