Porous β-tricalcium phosphate/collagen composites prepared in an alkaline condition

Abstract

Bone substitute materials with natural bone-like structure are considered to be favorable for bone regeneration. In this work, porous β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP )/collagen composite consisting of bone-like microstructural units was prepared using nanosized β-TCP particles and alkaline-disassembled collagen. The resulting composite showed a good interconnecting porous structure with ∼90% porosity and 100 - 300 μm pore size. The pore walls were dense, and the combination status of collagen and nanosized β-TCP particles demonstrated that nanosized β-TCP particles tightly connected collagen microfibrils as a bone-like microstructural unit. MTT and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assays showed that the porous composite had enhanced effects on cellular proliferation and activity of osteoblast compared with a control of pure collagen. It is suggested that the adoption of nanosized β-TCP particles is a main contribution to the formation of the composite with a bone-like microstructural unit, and the unique microstructure could be a main role for the composite to have the positive influence on osteoblast cell proliferation. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.