The introduction of nanotopography suppresses bacterial adhesion and enhances osteoinductive capacity of plasma deposited polyoxazoline surface

The plasma deposited polyoxazoline (PPOx) has been emerging in biomedical applications, especially for the surface modification of bone tissue engineering scaffold and/or bone implants. Herein, PPOx surfaces were generated by plasma polymerization with the introduction of surface nanotopography gradient, achieved by immobilization of different density of 16 nm gold nanoparticles. The introduction of surface nanotopography suppressed the adhesion of S. aureus on PPOx surface. Moreover, the introduction of surface nanotopography enhanced the initial attachment and spreading of hMSCs, as well as promoted the osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs. RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway may be involved in the enhancement of osteoinductive capacity of PPOx surface by nanotopography.