Apatite-Forming Ability of Sodium-Containing Titania Gels in a Simulated Body Fluid

An essential condition for an artificial material to bond to living bone is the formation of bonelike apatite on its surface in the living body. The bonelike apatite can be reproduced on the bone-bonding material even in an acellular simulated body fluid (SBF) with ion concentrations almost equal to those of human blood plasma. In the present study, the dependence of the apatite-forming abilities of sodium-containing titania gels in a SBF on composition and structure is examined. The sodium-containing titania gels are model substances produced on the surface layer of bioactive titanium metal prepared by sodium hydroxide solution and heat treatments. When sodium-containing titania gels are immersed in the SBF, Na⁺ ions incorporated in the gels are exchanged with the H₃O⁺ ions in the SBF. This ion exchange causes an accompanying increase in the pH of the SBF and increases its ionic activity product, thus providing favorable conditions for apatite nucleation on the surfaces of the gels. Nevertheless, sodium-containing titania gels that do not contain anatase do not form apatite on their surfaces. Independent of the composition, the gels form apatite on their surfaces in the SBF, specifically when they contain anatase. These results imply that the Ti-OH groups on titania, which have been proposed to be responsible for the apatite formation, are effective for apatite nucleation when they are arranged in a specific structural unit based on the anatase structure.