Nanocrystalline Zn and SO binary doped fluorohydroxyapatite: A novel biomaterial with enhanced osteoconductive and osteoinconductive properties.

In this study, we have successfully doped hydroxyapatite (HA) with zinc (Zn), sulphate (SO) and fluoride (F) ions to develop a new composition of bioceramic, Ca Zn(PO)(SO)(OH)F(SO), (x = 0, 0.2, 0.6, 1.0, y = 0, 0.5 and z = 0,1.0 mol), using wet precipitation method. The obtained materials were analysed using XRD, FTIR, FESEM, and XPS techniques to investigate the phase purity, particle morphology and elemental composition, respectively. A model anticancer drug (Doxorubicin, DOX) was loaded onto the surface of the Zn/SO-FHA materials. About 100% loading of DOX with a controlled release profile was obtained. Degradation of materials in Simulated body fluid (SBF) was greatly improved with the incorporation of Zn/SO ions in comparison to HA/FHA, which makes it highly bioactive materials. In vitro cell viability and adhesion of Human fetal osteoblast (hFOB) cell were investigated. Cell viability has demonstrated that the hFOB cells proliferated at a high rate on Zn/SO-FHA materials, confirming the in vitro biocompatibility of the materials. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and intracellular calcium deposition of hFOB cells seeded on 1ZnSO-FHA disc surface was statistically higher than observed on pure HA and FHA discs, indicating that hFOB cells differentiated into mature osteoblasts on 1Zn/SO-FHA disc surfaces. Taken together, our results suggest that HA substituted by (Zn, 0.2 mol), (SO, 0.5 mol) and (F, 1 mol) (1Zn/SO-FHA) material was a promising material for hard tissue scaffolds.