In vitro biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity of wet chemically prepared Ca10−xAgx(PO4)6(OH)2 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) hydroxyapatites

Herein, we report the effect of silver ions on the physical, antimicrobial and cytocompatibility properties of wet chemically synthesized silver doped Ca10−xAgx(PO4)6(OH)2 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) hydroxyapatites (HAp). Silver ions containing HAp exhibit the comparable density, hardness and enhanced antimicrobial properties, in comparison to parent HAp. The optical absorption measurements confirm the presence of silver ions in the doped compositions, which are responsible for as increased antimicrobial property of doped HAp materials for x > 0.3. The cytotoxicity behavior of the doped HAp was evaluated using mouse fibroblast (L929) cell line. The important result has been that doped HAp (x > 0.3) exhibit statistically (significant) lower cell viability in comparison to undoped HAp. However, no difference in cellular functionality on doped HAp surfaces, in terms of cell adhesion and proliferation could be qualitatively observed in reference to undoped HAp. In order to explain the observed antimicrobial and cell viability properties, the in vitro release of Ag+ ions has been quantified using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and solubility was measured by weight loss in acetate buffer solution.

Research highlights
► Wet chemically prepared Silver doped Hydroxyapatites (HAp) showing the Comparable density and hardness in comparison to parent HAp.
► 2% Silver doped HAp shows less solubility in acetate buffer in comparison to Parent HAp.
► Enhanced antimicrobial property in very low concentration of silver content in Hydroxyapatite.
► Silver doped HAp (x>0.3) exhibits statistically (significant) lower cell viability in comparison to parent HAp.