Synthesis of Ca-P nanoparticles and fabrication of Ca-P/PHBV nanocomposite microspheres for bone tissue engineering applications

As the first step in producing totally bioresorbable osteoconductive composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering using the selective laser sintering technology, bioresorbable nanoparticles of calcium phosphate (Ca-P) similar in composition to β-tricalcium phosphate were synthesized and Ca-P nanoparticle filled poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) microspheres were fabricated. The pH of the chemical reaction for Ca-P particle synthesis was found to have significant effects on the morphology and chemical composition of Ca-P precipitated. Ca-P particles produced at the pH of 10.0-11.0 were amorphous, had a Ca:P molar ratio of about 1.5, were spherical in shape and had sizes in the range of 10-30 nm. The Ca-P particles were used to form Ca-P nanocomposite microspheres through a solid-in-oil-in-water (S/O/W) emulsion solvent evaporation process. Ca-P nanoparticles were mostly encapsulated inside the microspheres and some Ca-P nanoparticles were superficially embedded on the microspheres. The Ca-P/PHBV microspheres had an average diameter of about 48 μm which is suitable for selective laser sintering for constructing osteoconductive composite scaffolds.