Gelatin-enhanced porous titanium loaded with gentamicin sulphate and in vitro release behavior

Porous titanium with entangled wire structure was enhanced by filling gelatin into the porous structure to form a titanium-gelatin (Ti-G) composite. The density of the composites was 1.6–2.5   g/cm 3 , similar to that of bone. The strength and elastic modulus of the composites reached 12.9–39.4   MPa and 2.5–7.4   GPa, respectively, which were comparable to that of the cortical bone. Gelatin in Ti-G composite acted as the carrier of gentamicin sulphate (GS). Antibacterial efficacy of GS-loaded Ti-G against Staphylococcus aureus strain was tested. The lack of growth of Staphylococcus aureus strains was found in Luria–Bertani (LB) medium containing GS-loaded Ti-G. GS release behavior from the GS-loaded Ti-G composites in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) was investigated. The effective GS release times from Ti30-G and Ti50-G were 120   h and 168   h, respectively. The gelatin in Ti-G was just degraded 3.2% at the immersion time of 168   h and 9.0% at 336   h. The degradation rate of gelatin was much slower than release rate of GS, indicated that the GS release from gelatin was less affected by the gelatin degradation. These Ti-G composites loaded with drug(s) are expected to be good candidates as functional bone repair materials with drug-delivery capabilities.