title: A bone replaceable artificial bone substitute: morphological and physiochemical characterizations.
abstract: A composite material consisting of carbonate apatite (CAp) and type I atelocollagen (AtCol) (88/12 in wt/wt%) was designed for use as an artificial bone substitute. CAp was synthesized at 58 degrees C by a solution-precipitation method and then heated at either 980 degrees C or 1,200 degrees C. In this study, type I AtCol was purified from bovine tail skins. A CAp-AtCol mixture was prepared by centirfugation and condensed into composite rods or disks. The scanning electron-microscopic (SEM) characterization indicated that the CAp synthesized at 58 degrees C displayed a crystallinity similar to that of natural bone and had a high porosity (mean pore size: about 3-10 microns in diameter). SEM also revealed that the CAp heated at 980 degrees C was more porous than that sintered at 1,200 degrees C, and the 1,200 degrees C-heated particles were more uniformly encapsulated by the AtCol fibers than the 980 degrees C-heated ones. A Fourier transformed-infrared spectroscopic analysis showed that the bands characteristic of carbonate ions were clearly observed in the 58 degrees C-synthesized CAp. To enhance the intramolecular cross-linking between the collagen molecules, CAp-AtCol composites were irradiated by ultraviolet (UV) ray (wave length 254 nm) for 4 hours or vacuum-dried at 150 degrees C for 2 hours. Compared to the non cross-linked composites, the UV-irradiated or dehydrothermally cross-linked composites showed significantly (p < 0.05) low collagen degradation and swelling ratio. Preliminary mechanical data demonstrated that the compressive strengths of the CAp-AtCol composites were higher than the values reported for bone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001031:Apatites / Q000737:chemistry; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry; D016025:Bone Transplantation; D002417:Cattle; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001031:Apatites; D018786:Bone Substitutes; C059821:atelocollagen; C030782:carboapatite; D003094:Collagen