Porous β-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering: In vitro and in vivo characterization

The biodegradable ceramic scaffolds with desirable pore size, porosity and mechanical properties play a crucial role in bone tissue engineering and bone transplantation. A novel porous beta-dicalcium silicate (beta-Ca2SiO4) ceramic scaffold was prepared by sintering the green body consisting of CaCO3 and SiO2 at 1300 degrees C, which generated interconnected pore network with proper pore size of about 300 mu m and high compressive strength (28.13 +/- 5.37-10.36 +/- 0.83 MPa) following the porosity from 53.54 +/- 5.37% to 71.44 +/- 0.83%. Porous beta-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds displayed a good biocompatibility, since human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells and goat bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) proliferated continuously on the scaffolds after 7 d culture. The porous beta-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds revealed well apatite-forming ability when incubated in the simulated body fluid (SBF). According to the histological test, the degradation of porous beta-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds and the new bone tissue generation in vivo were observed following 9 weeks implantation in nude mice. These results suggested that the porous beta-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds could be potentially applied in bone tissue engineering. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.