Anti-microbial hydroxyapatite particles synthesized by a sol-gel route

Sol-gel route was applied to synthesize anti-microbial hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders by the addition of silver 200-20000 ppm or zinc salts. The bacteria strain, Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans, ATCC 25175) was used in the anti-bacterial tests. HAp phase was reproducibly obtained by the preparation conditions: Ca(NO3)(2)-4H(2)O and trietheyl phosphate as sources of calcium and phosphorus sources, respectively, and ethanol as the solvent, aging for 16 h at 80 degrees C, gelation and drying at 80 degrees C for 24 h, then calcining at above 350 degrees C. TGA was used to analyze thermal properties of the as-prepared gel. XRD and FTIR were used to identify the crystalline phase and chemical structure. CaO appeared as an impurity after calcining above 650 degrees C. In the solid-state anti-microbial tests on the brain heart infusion (BHI) agar plates, there formed a microbial inhibition zone surrounding the Ag/Zn added (greater than 2000 ppm) samples. In the liquid-state anti-microbial tests, S. mutans cells readily precipitated with pure HAp powders but not with Ag/Zn added (greater than 2000 ppm) HAp powders. The concentration of silver or zinc ions releasing from the Ag/Zn added HAp powders into the supernatant of the BHI broth was under detection limit of ICP-AES analyses. However, the growth of S. mutans reached same magnitude (6 x 10(8) CFU/mL) whether pure HAp, 2000 ppm-Ag or 2000 ppm-Zn were added. Therefore, Ag/Zn added HAp powders developed in this research present microbial inhibition properties and are of potential as a solid-state anti-microbial agent.