Porous β-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering: In vitro and in vivo characterization

The biodegradable ceramic scaffolds with desirable pore size, porosity and mechanical properties play a crucial role in bone tissue engineering and bone transplantation. A novel porous β-dicalcium silicate (β-Ca2SiO4) ceramic scaffold was prepared by sintering the green body consisting of CaCO3 and SiO2 at 1300 °C, which generated interconnected pore network with proper pore size of about 300 μm and high compressive strength (28.13±5.37–10.36±0.83 MPa) following the porosity from 53.54±5.37% to 71.44±0.83%. Porous β-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds displayed a good biocompatibility, since human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells and goat bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) proliferated continuously on the scaffolds after 7 d culture. The porous β-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds revealed well apatite-forming ability when incubated in the simulated body fluid (SBF). According to the histological test, the degradation of porous β-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds and the new bone tissue generation in vivo were observed following 9 weeks implantation in nude mice. These results suggested that the porous β-Ca2SiO4 ceramic scaffolds could be potentially applied in bone tissue engineering.