Iron Incorporated Hydroxyapatite for Orthopaedic Applications: Its Synthesis, Characterization and Biocompatibility Studies

Recently, nanomedicine has emerged as a broad umbrella of science that covers research on diagnostics, drug targeting, and therapeutics using iron oxide nanoparticles. Similarly, hydroxyapatite (HAp) is being widely used in tissue regeneration therapy in the biomedical field, owing to its affinity for chemical bonding (bioactivity) with living hard tissue in addition to its outstanding biocompatibility. As a fledgling of these two scientific concepts, this study deals with the development of iron incorporated HAp bioceramics. This study puts forth an effective strategy to use the same for bone regeneration therapy with combined properties of both iron oxide nanoparticles as well as HAp. Iron incorporated HAp bioceramics were prepared by different ratios of iron precursor with HAp precursors. Systemic characterization of iron incorporated HAp nanostructures through XRD and HRTEM revealed their structural and morphological changes, respectively. The existence of iron in the HAp system was confirmed by Raman spectroscopic technique and EDX analysis. Further, human erythrocytes were used to evaluate the biocompatibility of iron incorporated HAp, which revealed better compatibility that paves the way for a sound future in bone regeneration therapy.