Characteristics of Surface Behavior and Osteoinductivity of Biomimetic Ceramic Scaffold

We previously reported functionally graded hydroxyapatite (fg-HAp) with the characteristics of blood permeability into the bulk and osteoinduction by adding low dose of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). In this study, we evaluated the bioactivity of the obtained dense HAp bodies in a simulated body fluid (SBF) and the osteoinductive activity with or without SBF treatment in vivo. The fg-HApSBF was prepared by immersing the fg-HAp in the SBF solution at 14 days and the surface structure was observed by SEM. The fg-HApSBF showed fine bone-like crystal on the surface of the HAp. Ectopic bone formation occurred in the fg-HAp/BMP-2 (1.0, 0.5μg) system at 3 weeks, while only in the fg-HApSBF/BMP-2 (1.0μg), bone induction was found. The histological finding showed body fluid permeation into the fg-HApSBF bulk and bone formation were obserbed.