Design for artificial bone consisted of calcium phosphate with osteoporosis responsive zinc ion slow-release

Zinc is an essential trace metal, it participates in biochemical reactions of various human bodies and its pharmacological activity is remarkably high, and its deficiency induced various pathological symptoms. On the other hand, when its zinc concentration in plasma is high, cytotoxicity develops as a side effect. For this reason, it exhibits effective pharmacological activity by sustained release of zinc over a long period of time in a trace amount. Zinc-containing calcium phosphate compounds in which zinc were substituted for calcium in a calcium phosphate compound were metastable crystals. The crystalline solids were able to develop a pharmacological effect of releasing zinc slowly by transferring to hydroxyapatite which was a stable form crystal in the living body and efficiently improving bone density. In addition, calcium phosphate compounds containing zinc, magnesium and fluorine were synthesized, and sustained release of zinc were confirmed, respectively. When these compounds were applied to osteoporotic rats, improvement of bone density and increased of bone strength were confirmed.