Effects of surface microstructure of hydroxyapatite on protein adsorption and biological performance of osteoblasts

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of surface microstructure on the serum protein adsorption and the biological performance of osteoblasts cultured in vitro, when seeded onto the surface of ceramics with different grain size: conventional HA, micron-sized HA and nano-sized HA. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used to comparatively analyze the protein adsorption solution. The content of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was determined, and then by using wash way method, the adhesion ability was tested. XPS tests indicated that the content of N on the surface was significant different between the three groups (P < 0.05). SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that all the materials in these three groups could adsorb a large amount albumin, while the material in the nHA group adsorbed more albumin than the other groups. There were significant differences among them on the levels of osteoblast proliferation and adhesion in vitro. The biocompatibility of nHA is the best and of conventional HA is the worst.