Microstructure and in vitro Bioactivity of Silicon-Substituted Hydroxyapatite

Silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite has shown superior biological performance compared to its stoichio-metric counterpart both in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, single-phase silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite was successfully synthesized by the precipitation method. Chemical composition, crystalline phase, microstructure, and morphology of the materials were characterized by XRF, XRD, FT-IR, solid-state NMR and SEM. The results showed that hydroxyapatite kept its original structure with silicon up to a level of 0.9 wt%. The precipitation method was proved to be an efficient way to synthesize single-phase silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite. Solid-state NMR combined with other techniques gave direct evidence for the isomorphous substitution of PO43- by SiO44- in the hydroxyapatite structure. Silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite showed better bioactivity than stoichiometric hydroxyapatite in the in vitro bioactivity experiment. The higher the silicon content in the hydroxyapatite structure, the better the in vitro bioactivity. The enhanced bioactivity of silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite over pure hydroxyapatite has been attributed to the effect of silicate ions in accelerating dissolution.