Mineralization of hydroxyapatite crystallites on zein microspheres

Abstract

AbstractBioinspired mineralization process has been extended to the formation of bonelike hydroxyapatite (HAp) coatings on biodegradable polymer substrates. HAp‐coated zein microspheres were prepared through phase separation procedure, followed by incubation in modified simulated body fluids (mSBF). The morphologies of mineralized zein microspheres with different diameters and incubation time were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The nature of the deposited mineral phase was characterized by energy‐dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that as the average diameter of zein microspheres increased to 1.13 μm, randomly oriented minerals were observed on the surface of microspheres. Two characteristic HAp diffraction reflections 002 and 211 centered at 2θ of 25.6° and 32.0° were ascertained on the XRD patterns of the mineralized microspheres. Incubation of zein microspheres with larger diameters in mSBF led to nucleation and growth of minerals on the surface. Even larger number of minerals were deposited and a porous structure of platelike HAp crystals was obtained after incubation for 21 days. The novel zein/HAp microspheres may have a wide variety of potential applications in bone regeneration and tissue engineering. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers