Resorbable bioceramics based on stabilized calcium phosphates. Part II: evaluation of biological response

Synthetic materials capable of being remodelled in vivo by the same process es responsible for natural bone turnover have long been sought for use as a n artificial bone substitute. These materials must ideally combine osteoind uctive capacity with the ability to withstand random dissolution at normal physiological pH, while being resorbed by natural cell-mediated processes. Resorbable calcium phosphate based coatings and bulk ceramics have been dev eloped which promote the uniform deposition of new mineralized bone matrix thus enabling rapid integration with the surrounding host bone tissue in vi vo. Furthermore, a critical result of this study is the determination that the silicon-stabilized calcium phosphate ceramics are essentially insoluble in biological media but are resorbed when acted upon by osteoclasts. In vi tro biological testing and preliminary in vivo testing show that the import ant features of this new biomaterial are a characteristic calcium phosphate phase composition and a unique microporous morphology. (C) 2000 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.