Original article    

                                                          

UDC: 616.314-089.8:615.46

doi:10.5633/amm.2011.0406

 

 

INTERACTION OF BIOMATERIALS CONTAINING CALCIUM HYDROXYAPATITE/POLY-L-LACTIDE  WITH THE SIMULATED BODY FLUID

 

Marija Vukelić¹, Žarko Mitić², Miroslav Miljković³, Jelena Živković¹, Nenad Ignjatović⁴, Dragan  Uskoković⁴, Perica Vasiljević⁵, Marija Petković¹, Jelena Živanov-Čurlis¹ and Stevo Najman¹

 

University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Institite of Biology and Human genetics, Niš, Serbia¹

University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacy, Niš, Serbia²

University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory for Electron Microscopy, Niš, Serbia³

Institute for Technical Sciences SANU, Belgrade, Serbia⁴

University of Niš, Faculty of Nature and Sciences, Biology and Ecology Department, Niš, Serbia⁵

 

 

 

The purpose of biomaterials is to replace a part or a function of the body in a safe, physiologically and economically acceptable way. The process of the reconstruction of bone defects has always been a big problem in orthopedics and maxillofacial surgery. Since hydroxyapatite (HAp) was detected as a component, the predominant constituent and the integral element of Mammalian bones, the development of the phospate ceramics as potential materials for implantation was enabled. This study investigated whether and in which way biomaterial calcium hydroxyapatite/poly-L-lactide (HAp/PLLA) interacts with the ionic composition of the human plasma. The simulated body fluid (SBF) is an artificial fluid that has the ionic composition and ionic concentration similar to the human blood plasma. HAp/PLLA was incubated for 1, 2, 3 and 5 weeks in SBF. The surfaces of both treated and untreated materials were analyzed on a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and were also exposed to the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), while SBF was submitted to the measuring of pH and electrical conductivity. However, our results indicate that the degradational changes of the material HAp/PLLA in SBF start from the surface of the treated material and that observed changes are the consequence of dissolution of its polymer component and the precipitation of the material similar to hydroxyapatite on its surface. This material shows good characteristics that place it among good candidates for the application in orthopedics and maxillofacial surgery. Acta Medica Medianae 2011;50(4):35-39.

 

      Key words: biomaterials, HAp/PLLA, SBF, SEM, EDS