Strontium Carbonate: Applications in Bone Regeneration and its Biological Synthesis

Strontium carbonate (SrCO3) is the carbonate salt of strontium that has the appearance of a white or grey powder. It occurs in nature as the mineral strontianite.

Applications in Bone Regeneration

Researches have showed that Sr can significantly improve the biological activity and physicochemical properties of materials in vitro and in vivo. Local release of strontium near the bone defect can provide osteoblasts with the appropriate concentration of this element, leading to enhanced bone formation and osseointegration. 

Strontium carbonate (SrC) bioceramics are proposed as potential biomaterials to efficaciously repair the bone defects. However, the development of SrC bioceramics is restricted by their intrinsic low mechanical strength. Compared with the well-known β-tricalcium phosphate bioceramics, the SrC-SrP bioceramics with certain amounts of SrP enhanced proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity and osteogenesis-related gene expressions of mouse bone mesenchymal stem cells. The SrC-SrP bioceramics with appropriate constituent can serve as novel bone regenerative biomaterials.

The total biological synthesis of SrCO3 crystals of needlelike morphology arranged into higher order quasi-linear superstructures by challenging microorganisms such as fungi with aqueous Sr2+ ions. We term this procedure “total biological synthesis” since the source of carbonate ions that react with aqueous Sr2+ ions is the fungus itself. 

References:

You may like