Calcium phosphate to help advance bone tissue regeneration

Fadis Murzakhanov, graduate student of the Institute of Physics, elaborates on his ongoing research.

Mr. Murzakhanov’s master thesis is dedicated to magnetic resonance-assisted observations of hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate. They are both used in bone implant technology, but, as with any artificial materials, there is a problem of biocompatibility.

The gist of the young scientist’s work is to insert various ions, such as iron, copper, manganese, or aluminum into hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate and observe resulting changes.

“We are currently concentrated on studying divalent manganese,” he says. “Previous works on the spectroscopy of hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate with divalent manganese have only used stationary regime of 9.6 GHz. The results have not been very informative. In our research, we utilize impulse high-frequency electron paramagnetic resonance and electron nuclear double resonance, which gives unique information about the additive center.

“We’ve been able to find and locate manganese in crystalline structures of hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate with very low concentrations. From a medical standpoint, this is very important, because the positioning of manganese can lend biomaterials very differing properties.”

Murzakhanov’s supervisor, Associate Professor Marat Gafurov, adds, “Calcium phosphates are in high demand in biology and materials science. There are also ideas to use them as a catalyst substrate in petroleum chemistry. Pure calcium phosphates are variously doped with metal ions to improve their physical and medical properties. The next - and more complicated - step is combined doping, meaning the introduction of two or more cations or a cation and an anion. This is a new area of science and is of huge interest to our colleagues in Russia and Belarus who work on gels and ceramic materials for medical applications.”

Source text: Larisa Busil

Photo: Alexander Sorokin

Translation: Yury Nurmeev