Hydroxyapatite from fish scale for potential use as bone scaffold or regenerative material.

The present paper studies the physico-chemical, bioactivity and biological properties of hydroxyapatite (HA) which is derived from fish scale (FS) (FSHA) and compares them with those of synthesized HA (sHA) obtained by co-precipitation from chemical solution as a standard. The analysis shows that the FSHA is composed of flat-plate nanocrystal with a narrow width size of about 15-20 nm and having a range of 100 nm in length and that the calcium phosphate ratio (Ca/P) is 2.01 (Ca-rich CaP). Whereas, synthesized HA consists of sub-micron HA particle having a Ca/P ratio of 1.65. Bioactivity test shows that the FSHA forms more new apatite than does the sHA after being incubated in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 7 days. Moreover, the biocompatibility study shows a higher osteoblast like cell adhesion on the FSHA surface than on the sHA substrate after 3 days of culturing. Our results also show the shape of the osteoblast cells on the FSHA changes from being a rounded shape to being a flattened shape reflecting its spreading behavior on this surface. MTT assay and ALP analysis show significant increases in the proliferation and activity of osteoblasts over the FSHA scaffold after 5 days of culturing as compared to those covering the sHA substrates. These results confirm that the bio-materials derived from fish scale (FSHA) are biologically better than the chemically synthesized HA and have the potential for use as a bone scaffold or as regenerative materials.