Ceramics-Silikáty 55, (1) 49 - 53 (2011)

Highly porous scaffolds with open structure are today the best candidates for bone substitution to ensure bone oxygenation and angiogenesis. In this study, we developed a new route to enhance the compressive strength of porous hydroxyapatite scaffold made of natural bone. Briefly, the spongy bone of an adult bovine was extracted, annealed, and coated by a nanostructure bioactive glass layer to be subsequently sintered at different temperatures. The apatite formation ability on the surfaces of the coated scaffolds was investigated by standard procedures. Our results showed that the scaffold and coating microstructure consisted of the grains smaller than 100 nm. These nanostructures improved the compressive strength and bioactivity of highly porous scaffold. The results showed that with increasing the sintering temperature, the compressive strength of scaffolds increased while their in vitro bioactivity decreased.