Preparation and evaluation of spherical Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite granules with controlled surface microstructure as drug carriers

Spherical Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite (HA) granules are expected to be useful drug carriers in bony sites because of their bone regeneration and adsorption ability. In order to control drug loading and release ability of the granules, a controlled surface microstructure was constructed. Spherical Ca-deficient granules composed of micron-sized rod-shaped particles were prepared by hydrothermal treatment of alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP) granules, and then, submicron HA particles were precipitated on the obtained granules by immersion in a supersaturated calcium phosphate (CP) solution. When bovine serum albumin was used as a drug model, precipitation of submicron particles causes the loading capability to increase and the release rate to decrease. The spherical Ca-deficient HA granules with the controlled surface microstructure are expected to be useful drug carriers that can act as scaffolds for bone repair. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.