Biomimetic Apatite Deposition within Casein-Loaded Hydrogel Scaffolds

Casein is a phosphoprotein and accordingly, its capacity to induce formation of apatite was investigated using a biomimetic method. The protein was physically immobilized into a synthetic polymer network generating hybrid scaffolds. The obtained hydrogels contained uniformly distributed nanosized casein grains. The incubation of such materials in synthetic body fluid (SBF 1.25x) led to formation of nanosized biologic-like apatite. The resulting materials have been characterized by infrared spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy.