Bioactivity of thermal plasma synthesized bovine hydroxyapatite/glass ceramic composites

Bone injuries and failures often require the inception of implant biomaterials. Research in this area is receiving increasing attention worldwide. A variety of artificial bone materials, such as metals, polymeric materials, composites and ceramics, are being explored to replace diseased bones. Calcium phosphate ceramics are currently used as biomaterials for many applications in both dentistry and orthopedics. Bioactive silicate-based glasses show a higher bioactive behaviour than calcium phosphate materials. It is very interesting to study the mixtures of HA and silicate-based glasses. In the present study; natural bovine hydroxyapatite / SiO2–CaO–MgO glass composites were produced using the Transferred arc plasma (TAP) melting method. TAP melting route is a brisk process of preparation of glass-ceramics in which the raw materials are melted in the plasma and crystallization of the melt occurs while cooling down at a much faster rate in relatively short processing times compared to the conventional methods of manufacture of glass ceramics/composites. It is well known that; one essential step to the understanding of the biological events occurring at the bone tissue/material interface is the biological investigation by in vitro tests. Cell lines are commonly used for biocompatibility tests, and are very efficient because of their reproducibility and culture facility. In this study, we report the results of a study on the response of primary cultures of human fibroblast cells to TAP melted bioactive glass ceramics.