Composites Derived from Aluminium-Modified Biphasic Calcium-Phosphate for Bone Regeneration.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Materials Chemistry
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) is a key biomaterial for bone regeneration.
• Enhancing BCP's biological performance requires novel formulations.
• Aluminium doping and collagen incorporation are strategies to improve BCP properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize aluminium-doped biphasic calcium phosphate (Al-BCP) composites.
• To formulate Al-BCP with hydrolyzed collagen and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA).
• To evaluate the preliminary biological performance of these novel bone-regenerative biomaterials.

Main Methods:

• Co-precipitation synthesis of Al-BCP powders followed by calcination.
• Formulation of composites using ceramic, collagen, and ASA at a 1:1:0.1 mass ratio.
• Characterization via XRD, FTIR, Raman, XPS, and SEM/EDX.
• Biological evaluation using cell viability assays (HaCaT) and antibacterial tests.

Main Results:

• XRD confirmed biphasic HAp/β-TCP structure with Al incorporation favoring the HAp phase.
• Spectroscopic and elemental analyses verified composite composition and Al distribution.
• SEM revealed homogeneous microstructures.
• Composites demonstrated non-cytotoxicity, with one formulation exceeding 90% cell viability.
• Preliminary antibacterial assays showed modest reductions in bacterial colony-forming units (CFU).

Conclusions:

• Al-BCP-collagen-ASA composites possess a favorable compositional and structural profile.
• These materials exhibit promising preliminary biological performance, including non-cytotoxicity and mild antibacterial activity.
• The developed composites represent a new class of multifunctional biomaterials for bone tissue engineering, warranting further investigation.