FABRICATION AND IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION OF POROUS BIOACTIVE CERAMICS WITH HIGHLY CONTROLLED MICROSTRUCTURE

Abstract

We have investigated on a fabrication of porous bioactive ceramics with highly ordered three-dimensionally periodic structure and an evaluation of its biocompatibility in vitro. The porous materials were prepared as follows. Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) sol was poured into the three dimensionally opaline array of polystyrene (PS) latex (3 μm in size), and then this composite was heated at 900 C in order to remove the PS beads from the composite and calcine the ACP sol. An observation on the prepared porous sample with SEM revealed that the porous material had three-dimensional array of pore. A pore size of the porous material depends on the PS latex size forming an opaline array using as a template. Then, a biocompatibility of the porous material was examined by in vitro test using a simulated body fluid (SBF) with pH 7.4 at 37 C. An observation with SEM on the porous sample after soaking in an SBF exhibited bone-like apatite crystal growth and that the highly controlled porous material has a good biocompatibility in vitro.