Abstract
Synthetic biomaterials have been developed and used for bone grafting. Here, we developed a biodegradable sponge composite for bone tissue engineering by combining β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and collagen. In addition, we sought to determine the optimal β-TCP granules/ collagen ratio by evaluating and bone formation in vivo. Porous β-TCP granules were mixed with atelocollagen hydrochloride solution at various ratios — 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 g/ mL. The resultant mixtures were freeze-dried and subjected to dehydrothermal treatment in vacuo. The final composites obtained were designated β-TCP/ collagen sponge composites (β-TCP/ CS) . Through compression testing, it was found that the stress values for β-TCP/ CS (0.2 g/ mL) were higher than those of the other three composites over the whole strain range. Histological evaluation at four weeks after implantation revealed that the collagen sponge had degraded and newly formed bone was present on the surface of the β-TCP granules. At 12 weeks, the β-TCP granules were completely degraded and remodeling of the lamellar bone was observed.
