Hydroxyapatite/SiO<sub>2</sub> Composites via Freeze Casting for Bone Tissue Engineering

Silke Blindow, Maxim Pulkin, Dietmar Koch, Georg Grathwohl, Kurosch Rezwan

Advanced Engineering Materials · 2009 · 44 citations · 42 references

Concepts

Abstract

Abstract Freeze casting is a fabrication method that allows producing near‐net‐shaped ceramics with variable porosity. Hydroxyapatite (HA) was modified by the addition of different amounts of SiO 2 nanoparticles during freeze cast preparation. The addition of SiO 2 introduced a partial phase transformation of HA to β ‐tricalcium phosphate and improved the form stability due to less shrinkage after sintering. The impact of surface roughness of pure HA ceramics and the influence of SiO 2 introduction during freeze casting on adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of human osteoblast‐like cells (MG‐63) was investigated. While both cell attachment and proliferation of smooth pressed HA was significantly enhanced compared to rough freeze cast HA, the addition of SiO 2 improved the cell numbers of the latter. The expression of cell differentiation markers osteocalcin and collagen I was found to be supported by rough surfaces ( R a = 5–6 µm) in particular on ceramics containing SiO 2

References

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