Dissolution behavior of octacalcium phosphate added hydroxyapatite

Octacalcium phosphate(OCP, Ca8H2(PO4)(6)center dot 5H(2)O) is one of biodegradable calcium phosphate materials with osteoconductivity and biocompatibility. It has the advantage of rapid bone formation and resorption due to the property of stimulating stromal cells to differentiate into osteoblasts. However, if OCP is inserted in body, it is immediately decomposed without maintaining of its shape as scaffolds due to their weak cohesive force between powder. On the other hand, hydroxyapatite (HA, Ca-10(PO4)(6)(OH)(2)), which has a crystal structure similar to that of OCP, remains in the body without decomposition until the bone defect is restored. In this study, the degradation behavior of OCP/HA disc with different amount of HA in SBF (simulated body fluid) solution was characterized in terms of the weight loss, pH variation and microstructure change with immersion duration in SBF solution. As a result, the OCP/HA disc was not quickly decomposed and maintained its own shape for 2 weeks regardless of HA content. In particular, the surface of 40HA specimen was uniformly dissolved and then CDHA (calcium deficient hydroxyapatite) phase were formed onto the surface of disc after 7 days in SBF solution. It would be suggested that the 40HA specimen would be suitable candidate material as the scaffolds for the restoration of bone defect.