Abstract
The formation of strong bond between material and bone tissue, studied by Hench, Kokubo, Yamamuro, or others in 1980's is revisited to obtain some insight into apatite deposition on meso- or microporous silica gel, derived by phase separation in the system tetraethoxysilane, polyethylene glycol, and water. Testing the apatite-depositing ability on the silica gels indicated that the increase in calcium, phosphate, and hydroxyl ions in Kokubo's simulated body fluid differently affected the apatite nucleation rate, and suggested necessity of modifying the original simplistic model of apatite nucleation: calcium ion adsorption triggered nucleation. Apatite formation was reviewed on anatase layer prepared on Ti due to chemical (H2O2) and heating treatments (CHT procedure), and balanced clustering of calcium and phosphate ions is significant for the apatite nucleation. CHT layer is proposed as a reference material for bone-bonding testing.
