In vitro degradation and apatite formation of magnesium and zinc incorporated calcium silicate prepared by sol-gel method

The high degradation rate limits the clinical applications of calcium silicate bioceramics. In this paper, Ca2MgSi2O7 and Ca2ZnSi2O7 were successfully prepared using sol-gel method by incorporating magnesium and zinc into Ca-Si-based system. The results showed that the obtained ceramics presented the macroporous structure and the incorporation of zinc obviously reduced the samples specific surface area. Compared with CaSiO3 (24.8%), the weight loss of Ca2ZnSi2O7 was the lowest (8.4%) and Ca2MgSi2O7 was the middle (12.1%) after 28 days soaking in Tris-HCl buffers. Meanwhile, the formation of apatite was also confirmed after soaking in SBF. Through above investigations, the incorporation of magnesium and zinc should be one of the effective ways to adjust the degradation and apatite formation of Ca-Si-based bioceramics, which would meet the various clinical demands.

Automated summary

By incorporating magnesium and zinc into the Ca-Si-based system, Ca2MgSi2O7 and Ca2ZnSi2O7 were successfully prepared using sol-gel method in this study. The obtained ceramics showed macroporous structure, and the incorporation of zinc effectively reduced the specific surface area of the samples. The results suggest that the addition of magnesium and zinc can be an effective way to adjust the degradation and apatite formation of Ca-Si-based bioceramics to meet clinical demands.