Abstract
A species of Serratia bacteria produces nano-crystalline hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals by use of a cell-bound phosphatase enzyme, located both periplasmically and within extracellular polymeric materials. The enzyme functions in resting cells by cleaving glycerol-2-phosphate (G-2-P) to liberate free phosphate ions which combine with calcium in solution to produce a cell-bound calcium phosphate material. Bacteria grown as a biofilm on polyurethane reticulated foam cubes were challenged with calcium and G-2-P in a bioreactor to produce a 3-D porous bone-substitute material. The scaffold has 1 mm macropores and 1 μm micropores. XRD showed the crystallites to be 25–28 nm in size, resembling HA before sintering and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP, whitlockite) after. When biofilm was grown on titanium discs and challenged with calcium and G-2-P, a calcium phosphate layer formed on the discs. Biomineralisation is therefore a potential route to production of precursor nanophase HA, which has the potential to improve strength. The scaffold material produced by this method could be used as a bone-filler or as an alternative method for coating implants with a layer of HA.
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Thackray, A.C., Sammons, R.L., Macaskie, L.E. et al. Bacterial biosynthesis of a calcium phosphate bone-substitute material. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine 15, 403–406 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JMSM.0000021110.07796.6e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JMSM.0000021110.07796.6e