In vitro Candida albicans biofilm formation on different titanium surface topographies

Figures & data

Figure 1. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs showing A&B) smooth, C&D) minimally rough and E&F) moderately rough titanium discs surface. Scale bar for images in A, C and E = 100 μm, Scale bar for images in B, D and F = 10 μm.

Table 1. Surface roughness, contact angle and surface free energy values (mean ± SD) of the three titanium discs groups.

		Group A (smooth)	Group B (minimally rough)	Group C (moderately rough)
Roughness Ra (µm)		0.15 ± 0.02^a	0.64 ± 0.08^a	1.30 ± 0.05^a
Contact angle (°)	Water	74.5 ± 10.2	86.2 ± 10.0^b	62.0 ± 10.0^b
	Diiodomethane	55.9 ± 4.2	62.8 ± 7.1	55.4 ± 5.3
Surface free energy (mJ/m^2)		39.4 ± 6.3	31.8 ± 6.5^c	46.1 ± 7.2^c
[Dispersion component/polar component]		[30.91/8.45]	[27.04/4.67]	[31.19/14.88]

The letters a, b and c indicate statistically significant differences of at least p < 0.01 between these groups using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc multiple comparisons test..

Figure 2. C. albicans biofilm formation on titanium discs. The amount of biofilm formation (%) on titanium discs of increasing surface free energy (SFE) and with different roughness (R_a µm) was calculated using an XTT assay. Data displayed are median ± interquartile range of 3 independent experiments repeated on different occasions using different titanium discs and C.albicans culture each performed in triplicate. *p < 0.05 using Kruskal-Wallis followed by Dunn's post hoc multiple comparison statistical test.

Figure 3. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs of the three different titanium discs surfaces showing C. albicans biofilm formation. Scale bar is 100 µm (A,C,E) and 20 µm (B,D,F).

Figure 4. Influence of salivary pellicle on C. albicans biofilm formation. Titanium discs of different roughness were pre-coated with PBS, BSA or human saliva and incubated with C. albicans for 24 h, Amount of biofilm formation (%) was calculated using an XTT assay. Data displayed are median ± 95% CI of 3 independent experiments. Data were analysed by Kruskal-Wallis followed by Dunn’s post-hoc analysis for multiple comparisons.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.