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An ultrastructural study of cellular response to variation in porosity in phase‐pure hydroxyapatite
Author(s) -
ANNAZ B.,
HING K. A.,
KAYSER M.,
BUCKLAND T.,
DI SILVIO L.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1111/j.0022-2720.2004.01403.x
Subject(s) - porosity , mineralization (soil science) , transmission electron microscopy , microanalysis , materials science , chemical engineering , microstructure , osseointegration , biocompatible material , scanning electron microscope , environmental scanning electron microscope , chemistry , mineralogy , composite material , biomedical engineering , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , medicine , surgery , implant , nitrogen , engineering
Summary Hydroxyapatite has been shown to be biocompatible and bioactive. Incorporation of porosity has been shown to enhance osteointegration; however, difficulty in controlling the extent and type of porosity has limited investigation into determining the role of both macro‐ and microporosity. The current investigation reports on the synthesis of four types of phase‐pure hydroxyapatite with varying levels of porosity (HA1–HA4), and with defined levels of macro‐ and microporosities. Transmission electron microscopy was used to evaluate qualitatively the effect of these two parameters on cell–material interactions following a 30‐day incubation period. Biological mineralization was observed within vesicles and the needle‐like minerals were confirmed as hydroxyapatite using X‐ray microanalysis. This demonstrated the suitability of primary human osteoblast‐like cells as a tool to assess the extent of mineralization. Furthermore, internalization of hydroxyapatite particles was observed. Our findings show that the variation in macro‐ and microporosity does not affect the extent of cell–material interaction, with collagen synthesis evident in all samples.