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Microstructural characterization of hydroxyapatite-alendronate nanocomposites

D. NEGREA1, C. DUCU1, S. MOGA1, V. MALINOVSCHI1, J. NEAMTU2, C. RISTOSCU3, I. N. MIHAILESCU3,* , F. CORNELIA2

Affiliation

  1. University of Pitesti – Research Centre for Advanced Materials, Romania
  2. University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Romania
  3. National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Lasers Department, Magurele-Ilfov, Romania

Abstract

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is an important bioactive material, quite appropriate for repairing or replacing bone tissues due to its resemblance to mineral components of bone and teeth. Bisphosphonates (BPs), e.g. alendronate (AL), are a class of compounds widely used for the treatment of disorders of bone metabolism. The synthesis of nanocrystalline HA containing alendronate opens a new way to the application of these composite biomaterials for hard tissue cure and repair. It is therefore important to evaluate the microstructural changes that might be induced by the synthesis process of HA-AL. We analyzed synthesized HA-AL composites with different BPs content of 3.9%wt to 7.1%wt to determine their microstructural properties. The composites were evaluated using powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) combined with Energy Dispersive with Spectrometry (EDX). The obtained results revealed that alendronate is incorporated into HA crystals up to about 7.1%wt, without significantly affecting the lattice constants of HA. However, at 7.1%wt AL added, we noticed the characteristic crystalline phase of the composite. The Ca/P molar ratio was determined as a function of AL content. The results indicate no significant variation of the atomic positions, occupancy factors, and thermal parameters of hydroxyapatite. Alendronate affects nevertheless the size of the HA crystallites which exhibit significantly smaller dimensions when increasing AL concentration..

Keywords

Alendronate, nanocomposite, X-ray diffraction, Hydroxyapatite.

Submitted at: Feb. 9, 2010
Accepted at: May 26, 2010

Citation

D. NEGREA, C. DUCU, S. MOGA, V. MALINOVSCHI, J. NEAMTU, C. RISTOSCU, I. N. MIHAILESCU, F. CORNELIA, Microstructural characterization of hydroxyapatite-alendronate nanocomposites, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 12, Iss. 5, pp. 1194-1199 (2010)