Improvement of in vitro physicochemical properties and osteogenic activity of calcium sulfate cement for bone repair by dicalcium silicate

•Dicalcium silicate can improve osteogenic activity of calcium sulfate cement.•The higher the calcium sulfate content, the shorter the setting time in the composite cement.•The results were useful for designing calcium-based cement with optimal properties. An ideal bone graft substitute should have the same speed of degradation as formation of new bone tissue. To improve the properties of calcium sulfate hemihydrate (CSH) featured for its rapid resorption, a low degradation material of dicalcium silicate (DCS) was added to the CSH cement. This study examined the effect of DCS (20, 40, 60 and 80wt%) on the in vitro physicochemical properties and osteogenic activities of the calcium-based composite cements. The diametral tensile strength, porosity and weight loss of the composite cements were evaluated before and after soaking in a simulated body fluid (SBF). The osteogenic activities, such as proliferation, differentiation and mineralization, of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) seeded on cement surfaces were also examined. As a result, the greater the DCS amount, the higher the setting time was in the cement. Before soaking in SBF, the diametral tensile strength of the composite cements was decreased due to the introduction of DCS. On 180-day soaking, the composite cements containing 20, 40, 60 and 80wt% DCS lost 80%, 69%, 61% and 44% in strength, respectively. Regarding in vitro bioactivity, the DCS-rich cements were covered with clusters of apatite spherulites after soaking for 7days, while there was no formation of apatite spherulites on the CSH-rich cement surfaces. The presence of DCS could reduce the degradation of the CSH cements, as evidenced in the results of weight loss and porosity. More importantly, DCS may promote effectively the cell proliferation, proliferation and mineralization. The combination of osteogenesis of DCS and degradation of CSH made the calcium-based composite cements an attractive choice for bone defect repair.