RESEARCH ARTICLE
Comparison of TCP and TCP/HA Hybrid Scaffolds for Osteoconductive Activity
P Wongwitwichot1, J Kaewsrichan1, *, K.H Chua2, B.H.I Ruszymah2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2010Volume: 4
First Page: 279
Last Page: 285
Publisher ID: TOBEJ-4-279
DOI: 10.2174/1874120701004010279
Article History:
Received Date: 22/7/2010Revision Received Date: 27/9/2010
Acceptance Date: 11/10/2010
Electronic publication date: 30/12/2010
Collection year: 2010
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Two types of porous ceramic scaffolds were prepared, consisting of β-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) or the mixed powder of TCP and hydroxyapatite (HA) at a 2:1 mass ratio. A variety of methods have been used to fabricate bone scaffolds, while the sintering approach was adopted in this work. An extremely high temperature was used on sintering that proposed to consolidate the ceramic particles. As revealed by SEM, a well opened pore structure was developed within the scaffolds. The θ-values were measured to be of 73.3° and 6.5° for the composite scaffold and TCP sample, respectively. According to XRD patterns, the existence of grains coalescence and partial bonding between HA and TCP powders was demonstrated. Scaffold mechanical property in the term of flexural strength was also determined. The result showed decreasing of the strength by HA supplement, suggesting the more brittle characteristic of HA in comparison with TCP. By soaking the composite scaffold in PBS for a period of 2 weeks, transformation from particles to flank-like crystalline was clearly observed. Such change was found to be favorable for cell attachment, migration, and growth. By implanting cell-seeded scaffolds into nude mice, an abundant osseous extracellular matrix was identified for the composite implants. In contrast, the matrix was minimally detected in TCP implanted samples. Thus, the composite scaffold was found superior for hard tissue regeneration.
