Silver-containing calcium phosphate materials of marine origin with antibacterial activity (original) (raw)

Hydroxyapatite (Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 (OH) 2 -HAp) is a common material for bone replacement in artificial implants and prostheses, due to its high biocompatibility. In this work we report about the preparation of HAp-based materials of marine origin with antibacterial properties. Bones from cod fish (Gadhus morua) were treated with a dilute AgNO 3 solution, to obtain HAp-containing samples with silver as a minor component. The samples were characterised by XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy and SEM, indicating the presence of HAp, β-TCP and some metallic silver. The determination of unit cell parameters, however, indicated that the majority of silver is substituted in the β-TCP lattice in ionic form. The antibacterial activity of these materials was tested towards both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterias; results showed that the material is very effective with Gram-negative strains such as Escherichia coli (inactivation rates of 99.82% and 99.999% after 2 and 5 h, respectively) and had a smaller but still significant effect on Gram-positive MRSA (91% inactivation rate). These results show the potentials of these samples as infection-resistant bone replacement materials.