Effect of copper-doped titanium nitride coating on angiogenesis

•Copper-doped Titanium Nitride (TiCuN) Coating could promote proliferation.•TiCuN coating enhanced the migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells.•TiCuN coating up-regulate the mRNA expressions of angiogenesis genes. This work studied the in vitro angiogenic response of human umbilical vein endothelial cells on the copper-doped titanium nitride (TiCuN) coating, which has been proved to own good antibacterial ability and excellent corrosion resistance as well as wear resistance. It was found that TiCuN coating had no cytotoxic effect and promoted the early cell proliferation, furthermore it significantly promoted the mRNA expressions of eNOS and VEGF, also obviously enhanced the cell migration and tube formation compared with TiN coating, which indicated that TiCuN coating can improve the angiogenesis ability of biomaterials and would gain new opportunities for the applications in orthopedic and cardiovascular fields.