Osteoblast-like cell proliferation on tape-cast and sintered tricalcium phosphate sheets

The influence of sintering temperature on the in vitro proliferation of osteoblast-like cells to sintered tricalcium phosphate (TCP) sheets prepared by tape-casting was investigated. Green sheets of tape-cast beta-TCP were sintered for 2 h in a furnace at atmospheric pressure at five different sintering temperatures: 900, 1000, 1100, 1150 and 1200 degrees C. The number of ostcoblast-like (MC3T3-E1) cells deposited onto TCP sheets was counted after cell cultivation for I week and was found to have increased with increasing sintering temperature. The TCP sheets sintered at 900 degrees C exhibited a significantly lower cell number than TCP sheets sintered at 1000, 1100, 1150 and 1200 degrees C. In the attenuated total reflection infrared spectra, the peaks around 900-1150 cm(-1), corresponding to the P-O vibration mode of the phosphate group, gradually decreased and shifted to lower wavenumbers with increasing sintering temperature. Meanwhile, the zeta potential of TCP sintered at 900 degrees C showed a highly negative charge when compared with the other groups. This would suggest that the higher solubility of the TCP sheets sintered at 900 degrees C exerted the higher negative charge obtained from zeta potential measurement. Within the limitations of this study, it was indicated that osteoblast-like cell proliferation increased with increasing sintering temperature. The biological stability of the sintered TCP sheet surface was considered to have affected cell proliferation. (C) 2007 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.