A new bioactive and biodegradable ceramic composed of micro and nano hydroxyapatite particles is suitable as a scaffold for tissue regeneration such as bone regeneration has been developed
A method to synthesize micro and nano hydroxyapatite powders grafted with fumarate based degradable and crosslinkable macromers for use as a filler in biodegradable composites was created by a scientific team composed of Mayo Clinic Tissue Engineering and Polymeric Biomaterials Laboratory Dr. Michael J. Yaszemski Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Bradford L. Currier, Professor of Biomedical Engineering Lichun Lu (Rochester, MN (Rochester, MN) and University of South Carolina Chemical Engineering Professor Esmaiel Jabbari, (Columbia, SC).
A method to synthesize micro and nano hydroxyapatite powders grafted with fumarate based degradable and crosslinkable macromers for use as a filler in biodegradable composites was created by a scientific team composed of Mayo Clinic Tissue Engineering and Polymeric Biomaterials Laboratory Dr. Michael J. Yaszemski Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Bradford L. Currier, Professor of Biomedical Engineering Lichun Lu (Rochester, MN (Rochester, MN) and University of South Carolina Chemical Engineering Professor Esmaiel Jabbari, (Columbia, SC).
These biodegradable and crosslinkable macromers grafted to hydroxyapatite can be useful for development of composite biomaterials in orthopedic tissue engineering applications.
Composition are disclosed in U.S. Patent 7,642,300 and they comprise (i) a macromer prepared by reacting an unsaturated diacid having a carbon-carbon double bond and a saturated diacid, and (ii) a bioactive ceramic grafted to the macromer.
The bioactive ceramic may be bioactive ceramic powders with particle sizes ranging from nanometers to micrometers. These sizes are suitable for grafting.
Bioactive means a substance which affects the structure or function of the body or which becomes biologically active or more active after it has been placed in a predetermined physiological environment. Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) powder is the preferred bioactive ceramic, and preferably has a particle size of less than 10,000 nanometers and may be as smaller as 20 nanometers.
The bioactive ceramic hydroxyapatite powders may be treated to facilitate grafting to the macromer. In one embodiment, hydroxyapatite is silicated to facilitate grafting to the macromer.