Mechanical behavior and cell response of PCL coated α-TCP foam for cancellous-type bone replacement

The mechanical behavior and cell responses of poly (epsilon-carpolactone) (PCL) coated alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP) foam were studied as an initial step for the fabrication of a cancellous-type artificial bone replacement. The alpha-TCP foam was obtained from sintering CaCO3 and CaHPO4 center dot 2H(2)O at 1500 degrees C. It was then coated with PCL and its three dimensional fully-interconnected porous structure was found to be maintained. The coated alpha-TCP samples exhibited high porosity (80-85%) with large pore size (500-700 mu m) that mimic the cancellous bone structure. The PCL content of the coating layer increased from 9.3 +/- 0.4 wt% to 19.0 +/- 1.3 wt% when coated with 5 wt% to 15 wt% PCL. The compressive strength improved significantly upon PCL coating. The compressive strength of alpha-TCP foam, 30 +/- 10 kPa, increased to 750 +/- 20 kPa when coated with 15 wt% of PCL solution. The in vitro biological evaluations indicated that MC3T3-E1 cells adhered and proliferated well on both the alpha-TCP and the PCL coated alpha-TCP foams. It was concluded that alpha-TCP foam upon coating with bioresorable PCL is of good potential to fabricate cancellous-type artificial bone replacement. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.