Effect of CaTiO₃–CaCO₃ prepared by alkoxide method on cell response

Abstract In recent years, calcium titanate (CaTiO₃) and carbon‐containing materials have gained much attention in a number of biomedical material researches. To maximize the advantages of both materials, we developed a novel alkoxide method to get “calcium titanate with calcium carbonate” (CaTiO₃–CaCO₃). The objective was to evaluate the crystallinity and elemental composition of CaTiO₃–CaCO₃ prepared by alkoxide method, CaTiO₃–aC elaborated by modified thermal decomposition method, commercially‐prepared CaTiO₃, and the effect of these materials on the bone marrow stromal cell. Hydroxyapatite was used as positive control material. We examined the cellular proliferation, osteoblastic differentiation, and mineralization of KUSA/A1 cells cultured with the materials. The results showed that CaTiO₃–CaCO₃ and CaTiO₃–aC contained evidence of calcium carbonate enhancing cell proliferation, osteoblastic differentiation, and mineralization. On the contrary, the commercially‐prepared CaTiO₃ revealed absence of calcium carbonate with lower cell response than the other groups. The results indicated that calcium carbonate could play a key role in the cell response of CaTiO₃ material. In conclusion, our findings suggest that CaTiO₃–CaCO₃ could be considered an important candidate as a biomaterial for medical and dental applications. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 2010