Preparation and characterization of injectable calcium phosphate cement paste modified by polyethylene glycol-6000

An ICPC with high structure recoverability and paste stability was successfully developed directly incorporating PEG-6000 into the liquid phase of CPC. The rheological behavior of ICPC was investigated with rheometric scientific ARES902-30004 controlled strain rheometer. Novel approaches of flow rate, shear thinning index (SI), shear stress slowdown (Delta tau) and thixotropy loop area have been applied to assess the injectability and structure recoverability of the ICPC paste. The addition of PEG-6000 to ICPC resulted in a thixotrophic structure with shortened setting time, slightly increased viscosity, larger thixotropic hysteresis loop area and lower Delta tau, with the improvement largely dependent on the PEG-6000 content. With acceptable injectability and shortened setting time, ICPC (1%) showed the lowest Delta tau and the highest SI, endowing the paste good structure recoverability and paste stability. The ICPC (1%) was bioactive and facilitated cell attachment and proliferation. The optimized ICPC (1%) paste with a relatively good structure stability and paste stability may serve as a good candidate for tooth root-canal fillings and percutaneous vertebroplasty in microinvasive surgery. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.