Abstract
To prepare bone and cartilage substituent, soft materials with heterogenic surfaces were prepared, that is, hybrid matrix composed of poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC)-co-2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphate (MEP)) (PMP) hydrogel and hydroxyapatite (HAp), namely PMP/HAp. The PMP hydrogel provides tissue non-adhesive and high lubricious surface and HAp layer on the matrix provides bone-connecting properties. The PMP hydrogel was synthesized by random copolymerization of MPC and MEP with a little cross-linking reagent in an aqueous medium. Some properties of the PMP hydrogel could be controlled by the composition of monomers. To deposit HAp on/in PMP, the alternative soaking process using CaCl2 and Na2HPO4 aqueous solutions was carried out. Deposition of white calcium phosphate was visually obvious, and identification to HAp was done by X-ray diffraction measurement and scanning electron microscopy observation. Cell adhesion and growth on the hybrid matrix was evaluated using osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells. After 3-days incubation, the cells did not adhere on the PMP hydrogel, however adhesion of the cells was observed on the PMP/HAp matrix. The number of cells adhered on the PMP/HAp matrix increased and cells took more spread morphology after 7-days incubation. We concluded that the HAp layer is important to make adhetion to bone and MPC unit rich layer may be compatible to cartilage tissue.
