HYDROXYAPATITE-BASED POROUS AGGREGATES - PHYSICOCHEMICAL NATURE, STRUCTURE, TEXTURE AND ARCHITECTURE

At the request of medical teams from the maxillofacial sector, a highly porous ceramic support based on hydroxyapatite of around 76-80% porosity was produced with a pore size distribution similar to bone texture (< 10 mu m, similar to 3 vol%; 10-150 mu m, similar to 110 vol%; > 150 mu m, similar to 86 vol%). The ceramic substrates were conceived not only as a fillers for bone cavities, but also for use as drug dispensers and as supports to host cells to produce particular therapeutic agents. A method is suggested to obtain a substrate of high porosity, exploiting the impregnation of spongy substrate with hydroxyapatite ceramic particles. X-ray and scanning electron microscopy analyses were carried out to evaluate the nature of the new ceramic support in comparison with the most common commercial product; pore size distribution and porosity were controlled to known hydroxyapatite ceramic architecture for the different possible uses.