Murine osteoblastic and osteoclastic differentiation on strontium releasing hydroxyapatite forming cements

Ionic substitutions in hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffolds and self-setting cements containing Sr(2+) ions incorporated are particularly of interest in bone regeneration. To date, the approach widely used to incorporate Sr(2+) ions into HA cements has been the addition of Sr(2+) containing salts, such as SrCO3, SrCl2∙6H2O, or SrHPO4. However, this approach is dependent upon the relative solubility of Sr(2+) containing salts with respect to calcium phosphate (CaP) precursors. Therefore, in the current study Sr(2+) substituted dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) was first synthesized and directly reacted with tetracalcium phosphate (TTCP) to form Sr(2+) substituted HA forming cements. Rietveld refinement indicated that after one week of aging in phosphate buffered saline, cements prepared with and without Sr(2+) were composed of 75% HA and 25% unreacted TTCP by weight. Cements prepared with 10% Sr(2+) DCPD exhibited increased compressive strengths in comparison to unsubstituted cements. Increased MC3T3-E1 proliferation and differentiation were also observed on the cements prepared with increasing Sr(2+) content. It was concluded that both the scaffold microstructure and Sr(2+) ion release supported osteogenic differentiation. With respect to osteoclastic differentiation, no statistically significant differences in TRAP activity or cell morphology were observed. This suggests that the amount of Sr(2+) released may have been too low to influence osteoclast formation in comparison to unsubstituted cements. The results obtained herein demonstrate that the use of Sr(2+) substituted DCPD precursors rather than individually separate Sr(2+) containing salts may be a useful approach to prepare Sr(2+) containing HA cements.