The effect of vitamins to hydroxyapatite growth on porous polyurethane substrate

This work presents a study on the possibility of obtaining hydroxyapatite thin layers on porous polyurethane support using a modified coating method, which is based on a biomimetic technique. To investigate bone-like apatite coatings formation on polyurethane surface, two types of solutions such as supersaturated calcification solution (SCS) and modified SCS (M-SCS) were used. The modified supersaturated calcification solution was prepared with added at original SCS appropriate quantities of vitamin A and vitamin D2. The hydroxyapatite deposits are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and ATR-IR spectroscopy. The presence of vitamins (A and D2) in M-SCS solution favours the formation of hydroxyapatite layer on polymeric substrate. The results obtained from SEM images have showed that porous polyurethane/hydroxyapatite scaffolds with estimated porosity of over 60% in an interconnected network, were produced under vitamins influence.