Development and evaluation of superporous hydroxyapatite ceramics with triple pore structure as bone tissue scaffold

Recently, regeneration therapy has been developed and uses a cellular activity to cure bone defects, requiring HAp with porous spaces for the cells. We have developed superporous HAp (HAp-S). The macro pore size of HAp-S was approximately 50 to 300 gm. The macro pores were very uniform. Moreover, HAp-S had many interconnecting pores and micro pores on the pore wall. HAp-S showed regenerative bone tissue, integration with the surrounding tissue and recovery of the compression strength of the defect area in the early stage. These results strongly suggest that the controlled triple pore structure, namely, uniform macro pores, many interconnecting pores and micro pores on the pore wall, advances osteogenesis. HAp-S was confirmed to have the most suitable pore structure for bone regeneration as the bone substitute material, and as being a useful material for application to bone disease. (C)2010 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.