Biocompatibility study of biodegradable starch-hydroxylapatite particulates for bone/dentistry fillers

A biocompatible study was carried out in order to evaluate the effects of novel starch-HA particulates to be used to fill bone and dental defects, in cell toxicity and proliferation. Two distinct methodologies were used: a direct contact test coupled to the NITS assay to evaluate viability/proliferation of SaOs-2 osteoblastic like cells and an indirect assay, the MEM test, to analyse L929 fibroblast inhibition of growth, death and changes in morphology. Starch-HA particulates passed cytotoxicity tests and proliferation of osteoblasts was detected after 6 days of culture. Furthermore, samples with higher diameters disclosed the most biocompatible responses for both mouse fibroblasts and human osteoblasts cells. This behaviour was found to be related with the faster leaching of processing additives and release of low molecular weight products that is obtained for smaller particulates.