Preparation and characterization of highly porous ceramic scaffolds based on thermally treated fish bone

The present study aims at the preparation of highly porous 3D scaffolds from the biological resource; fish bone skeletons. To the best of the authors' knowledge, few works were reported for preparation of highly porous scaffolds from biogenic hydroxyapatite. The preparation method includes two essential steps: the first is the extraction of pure hydroxyapatite powder having an average particle size of 50-80 nm from fish bone skeletons. The second is the formation of highly porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds prepared from fish bone skeletons via polymeric sponge method. Such scaffolds are highly bioactive as they are able to attract calcium and phosphorous ions to the scaffold surface in a very short time; less than one hour. The produced hydroxyapatite powder was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), while the formed porous scaffolds were evaluated for their physical and chemical properties in addition to their pore size, microstructure and bioactivity. The results revealed that the porosity of the obtained 3D scaffolds is 85 +/- 0.4 and the median pore diameter ranging between about 1 and 3 The compressive and bending strengths of the scaffolds are 0.13 +/- 0.007 MPa and 1.72 +/- 0.02 MPa respectively, which is very near to the strength of trabecular bone. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.