EFFECT OF COLLAGEN ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND STRUCTURE OF CALCIUM PHOSPHATE NANOPARTICLES
Collagen and noncollagenous proteins have an important role in the formation of mineral constituent of bone matrix. In this research, the morphology and phase characteristics of calcium phosphate nanoparticles in presence of collagen were investigated. The synthesis reaction was initiated by mixing H 3 PO 4 as phosphorous source and CaCl 2 as calcium source and type I collagen. Collagen concentration in suspension and Ca to P ratio was 1% and 1.67, respectively. The samples (with collagen and without collagen), were heat treated at 600°C and characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). More smaller and flake-like shape particles were observed in the SEM images of sample synthesized in the presence of collagen compared to the control sample which was constituted of larger granular particles. The XRD results revealed that the synthesized mineral powders with collagen were composed of hydroxyapatite and octacalcium phosphate. P – O and OH characteristic peaks were identified in FTIR spectra. In hybrid sample, the shift of amides band, revealed the electrostatic interactions between calcium phosphate ions and carboxyl or amino groups of collagen fibrils. The Ca to P molar ratio for sample with collagen was 1.9. It was found that the sample synthesized in the presence of collagen has a similar microstructure to natural bone.