Mg,Sr-Cosubstituted Hydroxyapatite with Improved Structural Properties

Bone substitute materials require specific properties to make them suitable for implantation, such as biocompatibility and resistance mechanical loads. Mg,Sr-cosubstituted hydroxyapatite (MgSr-HA) is a promising bone scaffold candidate because its structure similar the native matrix. However, MgSr-HA do not typically withstand thermal treatments over 800 °C, Mg promotes HA degradation less stable tricalcium phosphate, compound that, albeit biocompatible, found in bone. We, therefore, designed an ion-exchange process enrich sintered Sr-HA with obtain porous constructs. These contained 0.04–0.08 Mg/Ca molar ratio 0.12–0.13 Sr/Ca ratio, had up 20 MPa of compressive strength, use fillers or scaffolds. Unlike previous synthetic Mg,Sr-substituted apatite powders, proposed did degrade thus preserved similarity structure. The obtained material combines presence bioactive Sr ions lattice 3D morphological/structural organization that can be customized pore size distribution, well potentially covering wide range clinical applications.