HCA Surface
Bone regeneration is a cellular process that involves the interaction of osteoblasts and stem cells with the surface of a bone graft material. Studies have shown that the composition of a bone graft material can impact cellular interactions.
TrelCor® technology features unique, dual-phase composition that includes a microscopically thin (~5 microns) hydroxycarbonoapatite (HCA) surface layer. HCA is a carbonated form of calcium phosphate that closely resembles the mineral content of bone, giving it advanced osteoconductive properties.
The main advantage of an HCA surface layer is that it allows for faster bone formation due to the presence of carbonate.
However, most ceramic-based bone grafts do not contain carbonate. With HCA, the initial osteoclast process is significantly accelerated due to the presence of carbonate, which makes it very similar to natural bone mineral. Bone formation on HCA-covered graft materials essentially “skips” the preparation phase seen with standard calcium phosphate ceramics, like HA and TCP. This results in faster activation of the osteoblasts1 and a faster mature bone formation process.2
A 2019 independent study evaluated the bone formation response of HCA versus two other common calcium phosphate graft materials: hydroxyapatite (HA) and tricalcium phosphate (TCP).2 All materials were fabricated with the exact same bone graft scaffold structure and implanted into a long bone defect.
The results showed that significantly more bone had formed faster in the HCA group compared to the HA and TCP groups at both the 4-week and 12-week time points. This was more pronounced at the earlier time-point (4-weeks) which showed that HCA resulted 4.3X more bone than TCP and 14.3X more bone than HA.
References:
- Spence G. et al. Key Eng. Materials Vols. 309-31: pp 207-210 (2006); Hayashi K. et al. Materials Today Bio. 4: pp. 1-11 (2019)
- Hayashi K. et al. Materials Today Bio. Honeycomb blocks composed of carbonate apatite, β-tricalcium phosphate, and hydroxyapatite for bone regeneration: effects of composition on biological responses. 4: pp. 1-11 (2019).