The bioactivity of titanium-cuttlefish bone-derived hydroxyapatite composites sintered at low temperature

ABSTRACT

The most limiting features of titanium as a bone substituent are lack of bioactivity and high Young’s modulus. We have prepared titanium-hydroxyapatite (Ti-HAp) composites using titanium hydride as sintering agent to provide titanium sintering at lower temperature and preserve the stability of apatite phase. After low temperature sintering, no hydroxyapatite decomposition was detected. Pure titanium samples sintered in the presence of hydride showed smooth surface indicating good densification at 800°C. Higher HAp content resulted in decreased density and higher porosity due to the formation of micro- and macro-pores caused by the integration of HAp particles into titanium matrix and titanium hydride decomposition. However, Vickers microhardness test showed increased hardness for Ti-HAp composite with 10% of HAp regarding pure Ti. The bioactivity of Ti-HAp composites evaluated in simulated body fluid significantly improved with HAp content. The presence of HAp has lowered the cytotoxic effect of Ti-based composites on Hek293 cells.

KEYWORDS:

• Titanium
• carbonated hydroxyapatite
• cuttlefish bone
• bioactivity
• cytotoxicity

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project IP-2014-09-3752. The authors want to thank Ivan Kumić from Heat treatment laboratory at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture for helping with sintering process. There is no conflict of interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Anamarija Rogina is an assistant professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Zagreb, Croatia, where she obtained her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering in 2008 and 2010, respectively. She has received Outstanding Student Award three times. She gained her Ph.D. in 2015 from the University of Zagreb, with a thesis on in situ synthesis of hydroxyapatite within biodegradable polymer matrices. In 2015 she received the award For Women in Science from the Croatian Commission for UNESCO, at the Croatian Ministry of Culture, and L'Oreal Adria.

Ivona Košić received her M.Sc. degree in Applied Chemistry from University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Zagreb, Croatia in 2019. She did her student internship at Centre for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (CBIT) in Valencia, Spain, on a scientific research entitled “Engineered microenvironments for cell differentiation” in 2019.

Maja Antunović received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science, Zagreb, Croatia, in 2014. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, working on the project “Development of Biocompatible Hydroxyapatite Based Materials for Bone Tissue Engineering Applications” funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. Her research interests include sarcoma stem cells, cancer biology, cell culture, gene expression. She published 30 papers in international journals and conference proceedings.

Marica Ivanković is full professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Zagreb, Croatia. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Zagreb in 1994., after three years of research at the University of Naples, Department of Materials and Production Engineering, Naples, Italy. Her current research interests include materials for biomedical applications, hydrogels and scaffolds for tissue engineering. She is co-author of 76 papers with a high index of 23. She was a national representative in the European Polymer Federation. She received National Annual Science Award from Croatian Parliament in 2015.

Hrvoje Ivanković is full professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Zagreb, Croatia. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Zagreb in 1997. His doctoral research was performed during a four years stay at the Institute for New Materials, University of Saarlandes, Saarbrücken, Germany. His research interests include kinetics of solid-state reactions, sol-gel synthesis, ceramic and glass ceramic materials, organic-inorganic hybrids and nanocomposites, biomaterials. He has published 82 papers and conference proceedings with a high index of 22. He received National Annual Science Award from Croatian Parliament in 2009.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Hrvatska Zaklada za Znanost: [grant number IP-2014-09-3752].