Apatite-Forming Ability of Polyglutamic Acid Gel in Simulated Body Fluid: Effect of Cross-Linking Agent

Abstract

Development of the organic-inorganic hybrids composed of apatite crystals and organic polymer is expected to be an attractive material that has mechanical properties similar to natural bone as well as bone-bonding ability, i.e. bioactivity. It is reported that the carboxyl groups (-COOH) on the surfaces of the organic substrates act as a catalyst for induction of heterogeneous nucleation of apatite. The present authors previously showed that the apatite was successfully deposited on the polyglutamic acid gels containing abundant carboxyl groups through the biomimetic process, when they were priorly treated with calcium chloride solution. In this study, we fabricated the polyglutamic acid gels with different degree of cross-linking. Effect of the cross-linking on their ability of the apatite formation was examined in simulated body fluid (SBF). It was suggested that the apatite deposition on the polyglutamic acid gels is governed not only by the amount of –COOH that induces the heterogeneous nucleation of the apatite, but also by swelling property that controls local increase in degree of supersaturation with respect to the apatite.