The effect of Zirconia/Yttria/Silver substitutions on mechanostructure and cell viability of the synthesized bioceramic bone grafts

Hydroxyapatite (HA) based biografts were synthesized by substitution of Zirconia (Zr), Yttria (Y2O3) and Silver (Ag) using the sol-gel method. Fabricated bone grafts (H40ZrYt and H50Yt10) were compared with a control biograft. The effects of Zr and Y2O3 and Ag additions on the morphological, mechanical and cell viability of the synthesized biografts were analyzed. The biografts were characterized by X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). All biografts were then embedded into the drilled holes (D=3.2 mm) in rabbit femurs. The rabbits were then sacrificed after twelve weeks. Three-point bending (3-PB) tests were conducted on defected and grafted regions. Flexural strength values were found to be 347, 149 and 180 MPa, for the H40ZrYt, H50Yt10 and the control/commercial graft, respectively. Cell viability results indicated that the percentage viability ratios slightly increased after the substitution of Ag into the H50Yt10 biograft at 0.1 and 0.3 µg/ml concentrations and into the H40ZrYt biograft at a 0.1 µg/ml concentration. Although the cell viability was a bit lower in the H50Yt10 graft, the H40ZrYt graft achieved better results compared to the counterpart grafts. Furthermore, the hardness of both of the novel fabricated grafts were found to be higher than the control/commercial graft, however, as the flexture strength of H40ZrYt was higher but H50Yt10 was lower than the control/commercial graft.