Cytocompatibility and Phase Assemblage Study of heat treated potassium magnesium phosphate–silicate ceramics

Statement of Purpose: This article will report the study on a new generation bioactive ceramic, based on MgKPO4 (Magnesium Potassium Phosphate, abbreviated as MKP) for biomedical applications. A series of heat treatment experiments on the slip cast silica (SiO2) containing MKP ceramics were carried out at 900, 1,000 and 1,100C for 4 h in air. The density of the slip cast ceramic increased to 2.5 gm/cm upon heat treatment at 900C. However, no significant change in density was measured upon heat treatment to higher temperature of 1,000 and 1,100C. On the basis of XRD results, the presence of K2MgSi5O12 and dehydrated MgKPO4 were confirmed and complementary information was also obtained using FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. In order to confirm the in-vitro cytocompatibility property, the cell culture tests were carried out on selected samples and the results revealed good cell adhesion and spreading of L929 mouse fibroblast cells. MTT assay analysis with L929 cells confirmed non-cytotoxic behavior of MKP containing ceramics and the results were comparable with sintered HAp ceramics. It is expected that the newly developed MKP based materials could be a good substitute for hydroxyapatite (HAp or HA) based bioceramics.