Amino acid-assisted synthesis of strontium hydroxyapatite bone cement by a soft solution freezing method

Among many cations that can substitute for calcium in the structure of hydroxyapatite, strontium provokes an increasing interest because of its beneficial effect on bone formation and prevention of bone resorption. Strontium-incorporated calcium phosphates show potential in biomedical application, particularly the doped strontium may help in new bone formation. We have synthesized strontium hydroxyapatite powders at 2 °C by a soft solution freezing method using glycine as the template. The structural and morphological characterizations were carried out on the as obtained powders using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Strontium was quantitatively incorporated into hydroxyapatite where its substitution for calcium provoked a linear shift of the infrared absorption bands of the hydroxyl and phosphate groups. The strontium substituted bone cement has potential for use in orthopaedic surgeries. The present study shows that the addition of glycine plays an important role in reducing the particle size of strontium hydroxyapatite which could be used for biomedical applications.