Development of gelatin/HA membranes

Abstract

The aim of this work is to develop membranes of gelatin/hydorxyapatite composite for using as mechanical barrier. Membranes with 4% of gelatin and 0.5-3% of hydroxyapatite were studied. The composite was obtained by heterogeneous co-precipitation method. X-ray diffractometry showed the formation of a pure phase of hydroxyapatite with excellent crystallinity. Using atomic force microscopy, the distribution of crystals of hydroxyapatite in the gelatin matrix was observed, with nanoparticles of about 50-100nm in a homogeneous mixture. After crosslinking process with glutaraldehyde at different concentrations (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2%), a significant decrease of the swelling behavior was observed due to the increase of the amount of triple helix in the samples, which increases their stability in aqueous solution.