Study on β-TCP Coated Porous Mg as a Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffold Material

Three-dimensional honeycomb-structured magnesium (Mg) scaffolds with interconnected pores of accurately controlled pore size and porosity were fabricated by laser perforation technique. Biodegradable and bioactive β- tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) coatings were prepared on the porous Mg to further improve its biocompatibility, and the biodegradation mechanism was simply evaluated in vitro. It was found that the mechanical properties of this type of porous Mg significantly depended on its porosity. Elastic modulus and compressive strength similar to human bones could be obtained for the porous Mg with porosity of 42.6%-51%. It was observed that the human osteosarcoma cells (UMR106) were well adhered and proliferated on the surface of the β- TCP coated porous Mg, which indicates that the β-TCP coated porous Mg is promising to be a bone tissue engineering scaffold material.