On the Mechanism of Protein Adsorption onto Hydroxylated and Nonhydroxylated TiO2 Surfaces

Protein adsorption onto implant surfaces is of great importance for the regulation of implant bioactivity. Surface modification of implants is a promising way in the molecular design of biocompatible materials against nonspecific adsorption of proteins. On the basis of these fundamental facts, we focus in this work on the different behavior of protein adsorption on hydroxylated and nonhydroxylated rutile TiO2 (110) surfaces through molecular dynamics simulations. Our investigation indicates that the distribution of the water molecules at the interface induced by the surface modification plays an important role in the protein adsorption. The surface with modified hydroxyl groups was observed to have much greater affinity to the protein, as reflected by the larger protein-surface electrostatic interaction and by the larger amount of adsorbed residues. The highly ordered structure of the modified hydroxyl groups on the hydroxylated surface diminishes the possibility of hydrogen bond formation between the surface and the water molecules above it, which in turn makes it easier for the protein to move closer to the surface with hydroxyl modification.