Novel Calcium Phosphate Ceramics: The Remarkable Promoting Action on the Differentiation of the Normal Human Osteoblasts

To promote the activity of normal human osteoblasts (NHOst), the novel HAp ceramics containing Nb ions (NbHAp) were synthesized by wet chemical process, which reacting aqueous solution containing a mixture of Ca(NO3)2, (NH4)2HPO4, and the Nb aqueous solution. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that NbHAp had a monolithic apatitic structure, although crystallite decreased as Nb content increased. From inductively coupled plasma analysis, maximum amount of Nb ions in the sample was almost 8.2atom% of P ions. The NbHAps were presented as aggregates and composed of fine crystal of <1µm in diameter. Nb ions in NbHAp were uniformly distributed in the aggregates. Furthermore, high-resolution XPS spectra of Nb 3d5/2 indicated that Nb ions in the HAp were presented as Nb5+. These results suggested that Nb ions were at PO4 site in crystal structure of HAp. When NHOst were cultured with the NbHAp, their ALP activity were twice as much as that of NHOst cultured with HAp without Nb ions.