Release kinetics of growth factors loaded into β-TCP ceramics in an model.

Introduction: β-TCP ceramics are bone replacement materials that have recently been tested as a drug delivery system that can potentially be applied to endogenous substances like growth factors found in blood platelets to facilitate positive attributes.

Methods: In this work, we used flow chamber loading to load β-TCP dowels with blood suspensions of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), platelet-poor plasma (PPP), or buffy coat (BC) character. PRP and BC platelet counts were adjusted to the same level by dilution.

Optimization of Parameters for Atom Probe Tomography Analysis of β-Tricalcium Phosphates.

The biocompatibility and resorption characteristics of β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP, Ca3(PO4)2) have made it a coveted alternative for bone grafts. However, the underlying mechanisms governing the biological interactions between β-tricalcium phosphate and osteoclasts remain elusive. It has been speculated that the composition at grain boundaries might vary and affect β-TCP resorption properties.

Awareness for artifacts in fluorescence microscopy of β-TCP.

Fluorescence analysis of β-TCP ceramics is often used to describe cells found on said ceramics. However, we found, to our knowledge, so far undescribed artifacts which might sometimes be hard to differentiate from cells due to shape and fluorescence behavior. We tried prolonged ultrasound washing as well as Technovit 9100 fixation to reduce these artifacts.

Optimization of a tunable process for rapid production of calcium phosphate microparticles using a droplet-based microfluidic platform.

Calcium phosphate (CaP) biomaterials are amongst the most widely used synthetic bone graft substitutes, owing to their chemical similarities to the mineral part of bone matrix and off-the-shelf availability. However, their ability to regenerate bone in critical-sized bone defects has remained inferior to the gold standard autologous bone. Hence, there is a need for methods that can be employed to efficiently produce CaPs with different properties, enabling the screening and consequent fine-tuning of the properties of CaPs towards effective bone regeneration.