Carbon-centered radicals in γ-irradiated bone substituting biomaterials based on hydroxyapatite.

Gamma irradiated synthetic hydroxyapatite, bone substituting materials NanoBone(®) and HA Biocer were examined using EPR spectroscopy and compared with powdered human compact bone. In every case, radiation-induced carbon centered radicals were recorded, but their molecular structures and concentrations differed. In compact bone and synthetic hydroxyapatite the main signal assigned to the CO(2) (-) anion radical was stable, whereas the signal due to the CO(3) (3-) radical dominated in NanoBone(®) and HA Biocer just after irradiation. However, after a few days of storage of these samples, also a CO(2) (-) signal was recorded. The EPR study of irradiated compact bone and the synthetic graft materials suggest that their microscopic structures are different. In FT-IR spectra of NanoBone(®), HA Biocer and synthetic hydroxyapatite the HPO(4) (2-) and CO(3) (2-) in B-site groups are detected, whereas in compact bone signals due to collagen dominate.