The cytotoxicity of different pmma/hydroxyapatite nanocomposites

Abstract

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a polymer that has beenused in dentistry and orthopedic applications for more than 50years. Nanohydroxyapatite is a well known biocompatible parti-cle and it has high compression resistance. Hydroxyapatite addi-tion to the PMMA increases the bioactivity because of thechemical nature of hydroxyapatite which is similar to the bone.In this study, PMMA polymers with different molecular weightswere used to produce PMMA/Hydroxyapatite nanocompositefilms with the help of twin-screw extruder. Our nanocompositeswere composed of 1, 2.5 and 5 % (w/w) nanohydroxyapatite fill-ers. After the syntheses of the nanocomposites, the XRD andFTIR-ATR analyses were done. The residual monomers can bereleased from the polymeric matrix and they can migrate into thebloodstream. Therefore, we have determined the cytotoxic effectsof our composites on lymphocytes by acid phosphatase assay and tryphan blue exclusion method performed by live cell imag-ing system (JuLI)