Hydroxyapatite, is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite with the formula Ca5(PO4)3(OH). Pure hydroxyapatite powder is white. Naturally occurring apatites can, however, also have brown, yellow, or green colorations, comparable to the discolorations of dental fluorosis.
Hydroxyapatite Nanopowder/Nanoparticles (50 nm, 99.95+%) has been widely used as a biocompatible ceramic in many areas of medicine, but mainly for contact with bone tissue, due to its resemblance to mineral bone. In mammals, the skeleton presents a carbonated and partially substituted apatite, based on nanocrystal aggregates, and associated with collagen, building up 3-D structures present in various bone tissue conformations like trabecular or cancellous bone. There has been growing interest in developing bioactive synthetic ceramics that could closely mimic natural apatite characteristics.
As mentioned before, Hydroxyapatite Nanopowder is the main inorganic constituent of bone and teeth and therefore has been extensively studied as an artificial bone substitute. Moreover, composites prepared from synthetic hydroxyapatite and collagen have a great potential to mimic and replace skeletal bones. Biomedical applications of calcium phosphate based scaffolds take for example advantage of their ability to induce bone formation and vascularization and to cover varied uses such as bone augmentations, artificial bone grafts, maxillofacial reconstruction, spinal fusion, periodontal disease repairs and bone fillers after tumor surgery.
In fact, reconstructive tissue engineering is nowadays a highly active research area that involves the development of materials with outstanding properties. These can only be achieved by means of combining different components, processes and technologies. Scaffolds constituted by biodegradable polymers and Hydroxyapatite Nano Powder have a great potential due to the excellent combination of properties like enhancement of biocompatibility and reinforcing effect provided by the inorganic component and the facility of preparation. Researchers are nowadays extensively involved in the study of bionanocomposites based on hydroxyapatite nanoparticles due to both their recognized applications in the biomedical field and their high potential for new specific uses.
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