Resorbable calcium sulfates with tunable degradation rate

Abstract

The calcium sulfate (CS) tablets exhibit excellent osteoinductive and osteoconductive characteristics, they can be used to repair bone defects. However, the degradation rate of CS tablets is very fast. The present study demonstrates, for the first time, that the degradation rate of CS tablets can be manipulated through the use of sintering technique. Firing the CS tablets to a temperature of 1100 • C increases their relative density to a value above 90%. The density can be further enhanced to above 95% through the addition of 1 wt% sintering additives. The sintered CS tablets with the addition of sintering additives exhibit a high strength and a low cytotoxicity. More importantly, the degradation rate is tunable through the choice of sintering additives.

Tunable Degradation Rate and Favorable Bioactivity of Porous Calcium Sulfate Scaffolds by Introducing Nano-Hydroxyapatite

“…It was found that the scaffolds without nHAp were nearly completely degraded within 21 days. Fast degradability of CaSO4 was also confirmed by Kuo et al [30]. After adding the nHAp, the degradation was obviously delayed and slowed gradually with increasing nHAp.…”

Addition of a small amount of glass to improve the degradation behavior of calcium sulfate bioceramic

“…Various approaches have been proposed to decrease the degradation rate of CS pellets [6][7][8]12]. However, previous studies demonstrated that reduction of degradation rate without sacrificing compressive strength is challenging [5].…”

“…The result was a higher compressive strength for the sintered CS pellets. More importantly, the degradation rate was reduced [12]. The sintered CS pellets with sintering additives exhibited low cytotoxicity [12].…”

“…More importantly, the degradation rate was reduced [12]. The sintered CS pellets with sintering additives exhibited low cytotoxicity [12]. Nevertheless, the sintering additives formed fine particles between the CS grains.…”

“…The major function of sintering aids is the enhancement of densification and the retardation of grain growth [11]. Kuo et al demonstrated that the sintering technique was helpful in increasing the density of CS pellets [12]. A value of 90% was reported for the relative density of the pellets after sintering at 1100 1C.…”