Calcium carbonate polymorph dictates in vitro osteoblast proliferation

• Published in: Journal of the Australian Ceramic Society 2020-12, Vol.56 (4), p.1421-1426
• Main Authors: Oral, Çağatay M., Ercan, Batur, Kapusuz, Derya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ceramics; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Glass; Inorganic Chemistry; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Natural Materials
• ISSN: 2510-1560; 2510-1579
• DOI: 10.1007/s41779-020-00492-y

Calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) is a widely used material in biomedical applications owing to its biocompatibility and widespread occurrence in nature, especially in the exoskeletons of marine organisms. The ability to undergo polymorphic transformation between CaCO 3 polymorphs in aqueous environments provides a wide range of applications in the biomedical field, i.e. vaterite can gradually dissolve to release drugs or calcite can provide rigidity as a bone regeneration material. In this study, CaCO 3 particles including ellipsoidal vaterite, bowknot-like aragonite, and rhombohedral calcite were synthesized via solution mixing method by altering precursor ratio, pH, temperature, and solvent concentration. Afterwards, CaCO 3 particles were interacted with human bone cells (hFOB) to assess cellular proliferation for orthopedic applications. Results showed that hFOB cell viability can be altered by the polymorph and concentration of CaCO 3 particles. As an important finding, while proliferation of hFOB cells was promoted up to 5 days in vitro upon the interaction with vaterite and calcite particles, cellular proliferation was inhibited by aragonite particles at the highest particle concentration. Therefore, this work systematically showed the potential use of different CaCO 3 polymorphs in orthopedic applications.