Synthesis and antibacterial property of zinc loaded hydroxyapatite nanorods

In this work, hydroxyapatite (HAP) nanorods and amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) nanoparticles have been prepared using CaCl2 center dot 2H(2)O and Na2HPO4 center dot 12H(2)O in aqueous solution and they are used as the nanocarriers for zinc loading. The extraction method is adopted for zinc loading, which is conducted in ethanol, the poor solvent for zinc acetate. Zinc loaded HAP nanorods and ACP nanoparticles are investigated for oral antibacterial application. The zinc loaded hydroxyapatite (Zn/HAP) nanorods has a favorable Zn2+ ion release property. While for zinc loaded ACP (Zn/ACP) nanoparticles, the Zn2+ ions can hardly be released. Antibacterial experiments show that Zn/HAP nanorods has the best performance to inhibit oral cavity bacteria Aggregaribacter actinomycetemcomitans. Fusobacterium nucleatum and Streptococcus mutans. The present method provides a new perspective to the preparation of antibacterial nanomaterials for oral care application. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.