Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Sintered porous calcium phosphate ceramics is still insufficient in the induction of cell adhesion and growth due to its dense surface structure.
OBJECTIVE: To fabricate calcium phosphate porous ceramics with high porosity, to treat their surface by gelatin, and to study the influence of surface treatment on cytocompatibility.
METHODS: Calcium phosphate porous ceramics were fabricated by the foam impregnation technology firstly, using HA and β-TCP as raw materials. Then the porous ceramics were treated by 5wt% gelatin solution. The changes of pore property and surface morphology were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The porosity of samples was measured by the Archimedes method. The compressive strength was measured with a WD-10A electronic universal material testing instrument. The rabbit bone narrow stromal cells were cultured on samples before and after surface treatment in vitro. MTT assay was performed for cells proliferation and SEM was used to observe the morphology of cells on porous ceramic.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After surface treatment, gelatin coatings formed uniformly on the pore walls of porous ceramic samples without changing their porous characteristics obviously. However, the average compressive strength value of samples was improved from (1.04±0.15) MPa to (5.17±0.17) MPa. In vitro, good cytocompatibility of samples before and after surface treatment was verified by the results of SEM and MTT. Moreover, the attachment, proliferation and activity of cells on the surface of samples treating with gelatin were better than those of sintered porous ceramics. Without destroying porous characteristic of samples, surface treatment with gelatin not only strengthened porous ceramics, but also improved cytocompatibility of the samples.