Hydroxyapatite
(HA) is well-known as one of the excellent bone
repair biomaterials because of its chemical similarity with biological
apatite. However, weak bioactivity obstructs its application. Although
the bioactivity of HA bioceramic could be enhanced by the incorporation
of bioactive glass (BG), the dramatic decrease of its mechanical property
is consistently a disturbance to the reliable efficacy of traditional
modified HA bioceramic. In this study, HA bioceramic was modified
by infiltration of BG sol and formation of silicate-containing grain
boundary phases during subsequent sintering. The phase compositions,
microstructure, mechanical performance, in vitro degradation behaviors,
and osteogenesis of the bioceramic were investigated. The modified
HA bioceramic exhibited an interesting phenomenon in which the HA
grains were uniformly enveloped by the small silicate-containing grains
in the boundaries of HA grains. The microporosity of modified HA bioceramics
was up to 25.27% ± 0.01%, much higher than that of unmodified
HA bioceramic (1.74% ± 0.27%). The compressive strength of the
modified HA bioceramic via BG sol infiltration was much higher than
that of the HA bioceramic modified by BG via mechanical blending method,
though slightly lower than that of the blank. Moreover, mouse bone
mesenchymal stem cells (mBMSCs) cultured on modified bioceramic displayed
better adhesion morphology and proliferation, and had an enhanced
expression of osteogenesis-related genes. This study offers a new
strategy to improve the bioactivity of HA bioceramic without obvious
deterioration in mechanical strength.
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