[nanoPost] Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles for medical applications

Company USA

The company specializes in developing and manufacturing hydroxyapatite nanoparticles. Our activities are focussed on synthetic bone graft substitutes, sustained-release drug delivery devices, and applications of HAP for protein purification.

AccHydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) is a form of calcium phosphate that has a large number of applications such as separation and purification of proteins, bone implants, and drug delivery systems. For each application, the use of calcium based materials is optimized by specifying their geometry, dimension, density, pore size, mechanical strength, purity, and chemical phase.

Calcium phosphate apatite (CPA) is known to be one of the most important implantable materials due to its biocompatibility. Natural bone is approximately 70% CPA including hydroxyapatite (HAP) by weight and 50% by volume. Organic substances (such as co llagen) and water are the other constituents of bones. The CPA mineral is nanocrystalline with grains less than 50 nm. These nanocrystals are connected to each other to form the connective hard tissue, (i.e. the bone skeleton).

Bone is a complex structure with macro- and micro-pores. The pores are mostly interconnected to allow body fluid to carry nutrients and provide a medium where interfacial reactions between hard tissue and soft tissue can occur. Two types of bone struct ures have been described: cancellous and cortical structures. Cancellous bone differs from cortical bone in being open-spaced and trabecular. Since osteons average between 180 and 250 µm in diameter and intercommunicate through Volksmann canals, the size of the interconnected pores have similar dimensions.

Implant materials must provide properties that are similar to that of bone. Currently, only natural materials have been selected as bone substitute for bone grafting surgery. These include auto- or allograft, bovine, and coral blocks. Although these ma terials can closely replicate the structure of human bone, they present a number of disadvantages. They are typically very brittle and experience significant loss of strength during sterilization. They also can cause inflammation problems and carry the po tential for disease transmission.

To address these issues, our research is focussing in developing high strength synthetic biomaterials such as CPA and HAP ceramics. The ceramics are either sintered porous, or dense calcium-based mixtures (including HAP and TCP). Our research team rece ntly completed an extensive characterization of the sintering behavior of our narrow size distribution powder. We also have completed a study of the phase transformations that can occur in our sintered micro-porous HAP. Our research team is now designing high strength three-dimensional cellular biomaterials.

Access the contact details for this post by subscribing to premium content membership. For more details on premium content membership see our membership and fees page >> or contact info@nanoposts.com.