In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Starfish Bone-Derived β-Tricalcium Phosphate as a Bone Substitute Material

• Published in: Materials Vol. 12; no. 11; p. 1881
• Main Authors: Ishida, Haruka, Haniu, Hisao, Takeuchi, Akari, Ueda, Katsuya, Sano, Mahoko, Tanaka, Manabu, Takizawa, Takashi, Sobajima, Atsushi, Kamanaka, Takayuki, Saito, Naoto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 11.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Adsorption; angiogenesis; Aqueous solutions; Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; bone substitute; Calcium carbonate; Calcium phosphates; Cell growth; Communication; Experiments; FDA approval; In vivo methods and tests; Laboratory animals; Materials substitution; Methods; Pore size; Porosity; porous calcium phosphate; Scanning electron microscopy; Skin & tissue grafts; starfish; Substitute bone; β-tricalcium phosphate; United States > US; Japan; Germany; bone substitute; β-tricalcium phosphate; calcium carbonate; starfish; angiogenesis; porous calcium phosphate
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma12111881

We evaluated starfish-derived β-tricalcium phosphate (Sf-TCP) obtained by phosphatization of starfish-bone-derived porous calcium carbonate as a potential bone substitute material. The Sf-TCP had a communicating pore structure with a pore size of approximately 10 μm. Although the porosity of Sf-TCP was similar to that of Cerasorb M (CM)-a commercially available β-TCP bone filler-the specific surface area was roughly three times larger than that of CM. Observation by scanning electron microscopy showed that pores communicated to the inside of the Sf-TCP. Cell growth tests showed that Sf-TCP improved cell proliferation compared with CM. Cells grown on Sf-TCP showed stretched filopodia and adhered; cells migrated both to the surface and into pores. In vivo, vigorous tissue invasion into pores was observed in Sf-TCP, and more fibrous tissue was observed for Sf-TCP than CM. Moreover, capillary formation into pores was observed for Sf-TCP. Thus, Sf-TCP showed excellent biocompatibility in vitro and more vigorous bone formation in vivo, indicating the possible applications of this material as a bone substitute. In addition, our findings suggested that mimicking the microstructure derived from whole organisms may facilitate the development of superior artificial bone.