Fabrication of hydroxyapatite microparticles including silver nano-dots at grain boundary for long-term antimicrobial property

ABSTRACTThe antibacterial properties are useful to restrain inflammatory response caused by bacterial infection after implantation. The composites of hydroxyapatite (HAp) and silver nano-dots, silver oxide or silver phosphate have been investigated; however there are still some disadvantage in sintering; 1) silver nano-dots grow large, and are not homogenously distributed, 2) silver nano-dots melt and remove, and 3) silver phosphate and silver oxide formed exhibit higher solubility than metal silver. In this study, the distribution of silver nano-dots in HAp microparticles sintered was controlled at grain boundary with a modified silver mirror reaction as a novel route. HAp microparticles adsorbed formaldehyde by a vapor deposition method were soaked in an ammoniacal silver nitrate solution and were then sintered. There was a single phase of HAp including metal silver at 6.4 wt% even after sintering. The silver nano-dots were homogeneously distributed inside the microparticles. The release profiles of silver ions in phosphate buffer saline were compared with a reference; the HAp microparticles were soaked into silver nitrate solution and were then sintered. The distribution of silver in the reference was not homogeneous and large silver microparticles were grown outside the particles at 6.3wt%. The elution amount of silver ions from the microparticles at 12 hours was one-eighteenth of that from the reference. These results suggest that the HAp microparticles including silver nano-dots at grain boundary will be suitable for a long-term antibacterial material.