Cytocompatibility of nano-hydroxyapatite/polyetheretherketone composite materials with Sprague Dawley rat osteoblasts

The growth and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities of Sprague Dawley(SD) rat osteoblasts cultured in the nano-hydroxyapatite/polyetheretherketone (n-HA/PEEK) composite extracts and on the surfaces of these composites were investigated in this study. The osteoblasts of 24-h-old SD rats were cultured by modified enzymatic digestion in vitro. The ALP activities of the SD osteoblasts cultured in n-HA/PEEK composite extracts were measured and the mineralisation was studied by alizarin red staining. The morphological characteristics of the SD osteoblasts incubated on the n-HA/PEEK composite surfaces were observed by scanning electron microscopy and the ALP activity was also detected. The results showed that the n-HA/PEEK composites have good cytocompatibility with the SD osteoblasts and there were no obvious differences between PEEK and n-HA/PEEK composites in ALP activities and mineralisation of the SD osteoblasts cultured in their extracts. N-HA/PEEK composites could promote the growth of the SD osteoblasts on the surfaces of them and the improvement was related to the content and uniform distribution of n-HA in the n-HA/PEEK composites. The 5vol.% n-HA/PEEK composites was promising to be used for bone substitute materials.