Article Commentary: Evaluation of the In Vitro Bioactivity of Bioceramics

Chengtie Wu,Yin Xiao

doi:10.4137/btri.s3188

Abstract

Two common methods have been used to evaluate the in vitro bioactivity of bioceramics for the application of bone repair. One is to evaluate the ability of apatite formation by soaking ceramics in simulated body fluids (SBF); the other method is to evaluate the effect of ceramics on osteogenic differentiation using cell experiments. Both methods have their own drawbacks in evaluating the in vitro bioactivity of bioceramics. In this commentary paper we review the application of both methods in bioactivity of bioceramics and conclude that (i) SBF method is an efficient method to investigate the in vitro bioactivity of silicate-based bioceramics, (ii) cellular bioactivity of bioceramics should be investigated by evaluating their stimulatory ability using standard bioceramics as controls; and (iii) the combination of these two methods to evaluate the in vitro bioactivity of bioceramics can improve the screening efficiency for the selection of bioactive ceramics for bone regeneration.

Highlights

The bioactivity of ceramics has been defined as “the bond ability with host bone tissue”.1 This includes enhancing the ability of apatite formation, osteoblast differentiation and bone matrix formation
It is necessary to know that the standard β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) ceramics has been carefully prepared by a standardized method and procedure, Evaluation of the in vitro bioactivity of bioceramics since the β-TCP ceramics can be prepared by a number of methods and these will affect different cell responses
Our own work has shown that akermanite ceramics has excellent apatite-forming abilities in SBF3 and significantly enhances in vitro osteoblast attachment (See Fig. 2), proliferation, differentiation and gene express compared to β-TCP ceramics,[6] and in vivo experiments have confirmed that they have excellent bone-forming abilities in animal tests.[16]

Summary

Introduction

The bioactivity of ceramics has been defined as “the bond ability with host bone tissue”.1 This includes enhancing the ability of apatite formation, osteoblast differentiation and bone matrix formation. Other studies showed that these silicate ceramics possess good in vivo bioactivity,[15,16,17,18] which indicates that SBF testing is an efficient method to evaluate their in vitro bioactivity.

Results

Conclusion