Medical doctors use octacalcium phosphate to improve bone repair

Bone repairs were not successful until the late 1800s. Until then, there were few options for repairing major bone damage. Most products have no bones and do not support the blood vessels that grow through them.

Repair materials such as clay were commonly used but often failed. In 1892, doctors began using gypsum – calcium sulfate – as the first effective bone replacement material. Bone repair is much simpler and less risky these days, but repairing major bone damage remains challenging.

Doctors today use octacalcium phosphate – OCP – as a substitute bone material. It is a precursor to bone and a logical choice for bone repair. However, medical doctors may not be able to fully assess the overall extent of bone damage by X-ray examination. This could hamper their ability to predict recovery timelines and other prognoses for patients.

In a study recently published in Communication Chemistry, a team led by researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) introduced a fluorescent molecule – pyromellitic acid – into OCP. When used in clinical practice, this advanced modification to PRO will improve diagnostic and predictive analyzes of therapeutic outcomes.

We applied pyromellitic acid by reacting hydrolysis with dicalcium phosphate dihydrate. Characters of computer analysis and analysis confirmed that we have prepared our target material. “

Taishi Yokoi, Principal study author, Tokyo University of Medicine and Dentistry

Their synthetic method avoided the formation of undesirable salts – calcium carboxylates – which inhibited the overall activity of pyromellitic acid. By carefully designing the pH and pyromellitic acid concentrations during synthesis, the researchers were able to incorporate pyromellitic acid into OCP.

“We found that pyromellitic acid replaced 81% of the monohydrogen phosphate in OCP,” says lead author Masakazu Kawashita. “This is important for pyromellitic acid to help bind various inorganic layers as a whole intact, and to enable complete repair.”

The researchers ’blue-enhanced bone-enhancing material was clear, much whiter than pyromellitic acid when not mixed with a bone precursor. This opens up obvious opportunities for real-time visual analysis, and will help medical doctors predict the time course of patient recovery and other diagnostic results.

“Our improved PRO has distinct advantages over conventional bone repair products,” Yokoi explains. “We hope our product can quickly overcome regulatory bottlenecks and find use in dental implants, bone fractures, and other challenging surgical applications in the years to come.”