Biocompatibility of a porous alumina ceramic scaffold coated with hydroxyapatite and bioglass Hueliton Wilian Kido, 1 Daniel Araki Ribeiro, 2 Poliani de Oliveira, 1 Nivaldo Ant ^ onio Parizotto, 1 Claudia Cristiane Camilo, 3 Carlos Alberto Fortulan, 3 Elcio Marcantonio Jr., 4 Victor Hugo Pereira da Silva, 2 Ana Claudia Muniz Renno 2 1 Department of Physiotherapy, Post-Graduate Program of Biotechnology, Federal University of S~ ao Carlos (UFSCar), S~ ao Carlos, SP, Brazil 2 Department of Biosciences, Federal University of S~ ao Paulo (UNIFESP), Santos, SP, Brazil 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of S~ ao Paulo (USP), Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil 4 Department of Department of Periodontology, S~ ao Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, SP, Brazil Received 15 April 2013; revised 21 June 2013; accepted 12 July 2013 Published online 30 July 2013 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.34877 Abstract: This study aimed to evaluate the osteointegration and genotoxic potential of a bioactive scaffold, composed of alumina and coated with hydroxyapatite and bioglass, after their implantation in tibias of rats. For this purpose, Wistar rats underwent surgery to induce a tibial bone defect, which was filled with the bioactive scaffolds. Histology analysis (descriptive and morphometry) of the bone tissue and the single-cell gel assay (comet) in multiple organs (blood, liver, and kidney) were used to reach this aim after a period of 30, 60, 90, and 180 days of material implantation. The main find- ings showed that the incorporation of hydroxyapatite and bioglass in the alumina scaffolds produced a suitable envi- ronment for bone ingrowth in the tibial defects and did not demonstrate any genotoxicity in the organs evaluated in all experimental periods. These results clearly indicate that the bioactive scaffolds used in this study present osteogenic potential and still exhibit local and systemic biocompatibility. These findings are promising once they convey important information about the behavior of this novel biomaterial in biological system and highlight its possible clinical applica- tion. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 2072–2078, 2014. Key Words: alumina, biocompatibility, DNA damage, bone repair How to cite this article: Kido HW, Ribeiro DA, de Oliveira P, Parizotto NA, Camilo CC, Fortulan CA, Marcantonio Jr. E, da Silva VHP, Renno ACM. 2014. Biocompatibility of a porous alumina ceramic scaffold coated with hydroxyapatite and bioglass. J Biomed Mater Res Part A 2014:102A:2072–2078. INTRODUCTION Bioceramics represent a broad range of inorganic/nonmetal- lic compositions including hydroxyapatite (HA), bioactive glass, and calcium phosphate cements. 1,2 They have been extensively used, especially in the particulate form and their osteogenic potential and positive effects on the acceleration of bone healing have been demonstrated by many authors. 2–6 One of the most used biomaterial ceramic is the syn- thetic HA, which has similar chemical composition when compared to bone. 5–7 In addition, it does not present any toxicity, and it has high chemical stability and absence of inflammatory or antigenic reactions. 8,9 However, the rate of degradability of this material is slow and does not match with the rate of new bone formation. 8,9 Similarly, the bioactive glasses have been widely used as bone graft substitutes due to their ability to bond and to integrate with the living bone tissue by forming a biologi- cally active bonelike apatite layer on their surfaces. 3 Bioac- tive glasses are resorbable and the dissolution products (soluble silicon and calcium) have been found to upregulate seven families of genes in osteoblasts. 1,3 The original bioac- tive glass was discovered by Hench and it was named Bio- glass V R 45S5 (BG). It is a melt-derived glass with four components (46.1% SiO 2 , 24.4% Na 2 O, 26.9% CaO, and 2.6% P 2 O 5 , in mol) 1,3 and it has been known for many years as the most bioactive composition among numerous bone- bonding glasses. 1,3,10,11 Although HA and BG exhibit good bioactive indexes and present osteogenic properties, the biological application of these materials is limited due to their low mechanical prop- erties to the development of scaffolds. 1,3,10,11 To try to overcome the limitations, some composite mate- rials are developed from two or more materials in order to get the properties of interest in a single material. 12 The alu- mina bioceramic (Al 3 O 2 ) is a material that has high mechani- cal strength, high stiffness, and excellent corrosion resistance, characteristics which make the material more acceptable for biomedical applications in cases requiring inertia. However, Correspondence to: A. C. M. Renno; e-mail: a.renno@unifesp.br 2072 V C 2013 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.