The impact of Cu(II) ions doping in nanostructured hydroxyapatite powder: A finite element modelling study for physico-mechanical and biological property evaluation

The synthesis of doped nanostructured materials with multifunctional properties and improved biocompatibility have immense potential for biomedical applications. In this present study, a facile wet chemical precipitation method was employed to synthesize hydroxyapatite (HAp) and different concentrations copper doped HAp, and Cu-x-HAp (x = 1, 2, and 4 mol%) nano materials. Sophisticated analytical and spectroscopic techniques were employed to confirm its physico-chemical properties, and morphological features. The synthesized HAp, Cux-HAp were further studied as a drug nanocarrier using doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) as a model drug, which results a maximum drug release of similar to 34.3% (at pH 4.5) for 1 mol% of Cu-HAp. The nanostructured materials were further used to fabricate scaffolds by employing gel-casting method. The finite element modeling theoretical approach was adopted, to correlate the force distribution over the developed scaffold during mechanical characterization. The in vitro study confirmed the nontoxic behavior of the HAp and Cu-x-HAp scaffolds using MG-63 cell line. The developed scaffold effectively facilitates and simulates the new cell attachment, growth, and proliferation on its surface with adequate (similar to 7.87 MPa) compressive strength properties. The enhanced biocompatibility with improved mechanical stability of Cu-x-HAp nanomaterials could address some of the critical challenges in biomedical applications. (C) 2022 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.