Synthesis of aligned porous poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)/hydroxyapatite (HA) composite microspheres

We synthesized poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)/hydroxyapatite (HA) composite microspheres with an aligned porous structure and evaluated their potential applications in bone tissue engineering. A range of HA particles (0, 5, 10 and 20 wt.% in relation to the PCL polymer) were added to a PCL solution in order to improve the biocompatibility of the porous PCL/HA composite microspheres. All the synthesized microspheres showed that the HA particles were distributed well in the PCL matrix, while preserving their aligned porous structure. The average size of the PCL/HA composite microspheres increased from 62 ± 7 to 179 ± 95 μm with increasing HA content from 0 to 20 wt.%. The incorporation of the HA particles to the PCL polymer led to a considerable improvement in in vitro bioactivity, which was assessed by immersing the PCL/HA composite microspheres in simulated body fluid (SBF). A number of apatite crystals could be precipitated on the surface of the aligned porous PCL/HA composite microspheres after soaking in the SBF for 7 days.