Synthesis of hydroxyapatite from Lates calcarifer fish bone for biomedical applications

The present study aims at the synthesis of hydroxyapatite (HAp) from fish bone by simple heat treatment in the temperature ranging from 200 to 1200 °C. The synthesized powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to identify the phases and functional groups. The major phase was hydroxyapatite in all the powders and small amount of tricalcium phosphate observed in the calcined powders above 800 °C. The FTIR results showed phosphate, hydroxyl peaks in the samples treated at high temperatures (>800 °C) and other groups corresponding to carbonates and collagen were not present. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) of the powder calcined at 1200 °C demonstrated irregular morphology and composition detected using energy dispersive spectroscopy. The in vitro biocompatibility study of fish (Lates calcarifer) bone derived HAp powder, sintered at 1200 °C, showed that these powders are non-cytotoxic.