In-Depth Evaluation of Biocompatibility of a Porous Titanium-Zirconium Binary Alloy for Potential Bone Implant

Titanium-Zirconium alloys have attracted significant attention as potential bone implant materials owing to their good biocompatibilities and acceptable strengths. In the present work, a Ti-20Zr (at.%) alloy with varying porosity levels was synthesized using powder metallurgy technique. In vitro assessments, including cell viability and proliferation, adhesion potential, and genotoxicity were conducted using methods such as MTT assays, live/dead assay, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fibronectin adsorption, and plasmid-DNA interaction assays to evaluate the biological performances of the materials. The results revealed that the alloys exhibited superior cellular activities and integrated well into bone tissue, attributed to their optimized porous structure and favourable surface characteristics. Microscopic analysis of L929 and Saos-2 cell lines showed enhanced cell viability, proliferation, and cell adhesion as well as no toxic or allergic reaction was found. These findings revealed that Ti-20Zr alloys possessed favourable potential as next-generation bone implant, addressing limitations of permanent titanium-based biomaterials.