Calcium phosphate scaffold from biogenic calcium carbonate by fast ambient condition reactions

Calcium phosphate biogenic materials are biocompatible and promote bioactivity and osteoconductivity, which implies their natural affinity and tendency to bond directly to bones subsequently replacing the host bone after implantation owing to its biodegradability. Calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate, CaHPO4·2H2O, is known to be a nucleation precursor, in aqueous solutions, for apatitic calcium phosphates and, hence, a potential starting material for bone substitutes. Numerous approaches, via hydrothermal and ambient synthetic routes, have been used to produce calcium phosphate from biogenic calcium carbonate, taking advantage of the peculiar architecture and composition of the latter. In this article, the lamellar region of the cuttlefish bone (Sepia officinalis) was used as a framework for the organized deposition of calcium phosphate crystals, at ambient conditions via a fast procedure involving an amorphous calcium carbonate intermediate, and ending with a conversion to calcium phosphate and a fixation procedure, thereby resulting in direct conversion of biogenic calcium carbonate into calcium phosphates at ambient conditions from the scale of months to hours.

► An easy approach to convert biogenic CaCO3 into calcium phosphate scaffold. ► Conversion achieved at ambient temperatures. ► No degradation of the organic matrix in the biomaterial during conversion. ► Reduction of direct conversion from a scale of months to hours. ► Conversion involves lowering the pH and having a high soluble CaCO3 phase, as ACC.