The Methylcellulose/Hydroxyapatite composite for bone graft

Abstract

Bone-graft material consisting of 200 ~ 1500 micrometre-sized granular powder has recently been used. However, it is difficult to place granular powder in the defective area of a bone, and this can result in the loss of bone-graft material during surgery. On the other hand, nano-sized bone-graft powder exhibits superior graft efficiency. Thus, we proposed the manufacture of moldable block-type bone-graft materials from nano-sized hydroxyapatite(HAp)-sol and methylcellulose (MC), which is widely used as a thickener. Composites of various HAp-sol and MC concentrations were fabricated and their viscosity was measured. The composites were freeze-dried to fabricate blocks, and their microstructure was studied. pH and cell viability tests were conducted to verify that the biological stability of the bone-grafting materials was not impaired by the MC. A tooth-injection test was conducted in a simulated body fluid (SBF) solution over three months; this demonstrated that the composite bone-graft materials were activated in the SBF solution.