Hydroxyapatite for Filling Bone Tissue Defects

Abstract

Hydroxyapatite was synthesized in conditions of mechanoacoustic treatment of an aqueous reaction mixture consisting of ammonium hydrogen phosphate and calcium nitrate using a commercially available rotary pulsation apparatus. Mechanoacoustic treatment of the reaction mixture was found to lead to the formation of nanosized hydroxyapatite particles with a predominant mean diameter of about 20 nm. Purification of technical hydroxyapatite to remove traces of ammonium nitrate by thermal processing at 350°C is proposed. The crystalline phase of hydroxyapatite was found not to be dominant in the structure. The porosity of hydroxyapatite amounted to about 75% with a mean pore diameter of 2.8 × 103 nm. Thermal processing of hydroxyapatite in aqueous medium was found to yield a paste-like form. Hydroxyapatite paste had no cytotoxicity and did not prevent cell adhesion, though it almost completely inhibited cell spreading.