Development of Brushite Bone Cement Using Recombinant Mussel Adhesive Protein

Increased cases of skeletal defects have led requirements of bone graft. As an alternative to autograft and allograft, a wide range of materials are considered in replacement of local bone loss. Calcium phosphate materials, which have similar composition to bone, are the most attractive as promising bone substitutes because of their biological advantages. Especially, brushite-based calcium phosphate cements are paid attention with interest of their fast resorption rates. However, the low mechanical strength limits their use to only non load-bearing applications. Therefore, to improve mechanical strength of brushite-based calcium phosphate bone cement, we used recombinant mussel adhesive protein (MAP). Recombinant MAPs are biocompatible and biodegradable mussel-derived proteins for underwater adhesion. These harmless bioadhesives were considered as bone cement additives. In the present work, we investigated effects of recombinant MAP addition on formation of brushite-based calcium phosphate cement.