title: Hydroxyapatite bone substitutes developed via replication of natural marine sponges.
abstract: The application of synthetic cancellous bone has been shown to be highly successful when its architecture mimics that of the naturally interconnected trabeculae bone it aims to replace. The following investigation demonstrates the potential use of marine sponges as precursors in the production of ceramic based tissue engineered bone scaffolds. Three species of natural sponge, Dalmata Fina (Spongia officinalis Linnaeus, Adriatic Sea), Fina Silk (Spongia zimocca, Mediterranean) and Elephant Ear (Spongia agaricina, Caribbean) were selected for replication. A high solid content (80 %wt), low viscosity (126 mPas) hydroxyapatite slurry was developed, infiltrated into each sponge species and subsequently sintered, producing a scaffold structure that replicated pore architecture and interconnectivity of the precursor sponge. The most promising of the ceramic tissue engineered bone scaffolds developed, Spongia agaricina replicas, demonstrated an overall porosity of 56-61% with 83% of the pores ranging between 100 and 500 microm (average pore size 349 microm) and an interconnectivity of 99.92%.
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen's University Belfast, Ashby Institute, Belfast, UK. ecunningham07@qub.ac.uk
authors.forename: Eoin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dunne
authors.forename: Gavin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maggs
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wilcox
authors.forename: Fraser
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buchanan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D017886:Durapatite / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D010316:Particle Size; D011161:Porifera / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016062:Porosity; D016628:Replica Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018786:Bone Substitutes; D017886:Durapatite