Abstract
Both hydroxyapatite (HA) and chitosan (CS) are biomaterials with known medical applications. Synthetic hydroxyapatite [HA, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2] is a bioceramic widely used in hard tissue regeneration. Chitosan is a polysaccharide obtained from chitin present in exoskeleton of crustaceans and in funghi. This biopolymer has a great potential for biomedical applications in wound dressing because it is biodegradable, hypoallergenic, an antibacterial agent and can clot blood [1]. All these properties also make CS a suitable material to add to HA used in orthopedic and dental surgery to help improve healing and osseointegration. Because of the piezoelectric character of bone [2] electrical stress can accelerate remodeling and regeneration of bone. In the 1990’s Yamasihita and coworkers [3] started using thermal polarization of HA to increase its bioactivity. In this work a composite of chitosan n and hydroxypatite was produced and electrically polarized by thermal polarization. Thermally stimulated discharge currents technique (TSDC) was used to study resulting polarization.
| Original language | Unknown |
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| Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore, USA |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2014 |