Bioactivity of gelatin coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: in vitro evaluation.

Current research explores formation of bone like apatite on gelatin coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (GIOPs) to evaluate the bioactivity of the material. The GIOPs were soaked in simulated body fluid (SBF) and the apatite formation on the surface was investigated in regular interval of time. Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) and x-ray diffraction spectroscopic (XRD) analyses were done to investigate the chemical changes and field emission-scanning electron microscopic (FE-SEM) analysis was done to investigate the morphological changes occurring on the surface of the GIOPs after soaking in different time intervals. The kinetic studies of the apatite growth in SBF suggest that initially calcium and phosphorous ions were deposited to the surface of the GIOPs from the SBF leading to formation of amorphous Ca/P particles. Later, after 9 days of the incubation the amorphous particles were fused to form needle and blade like crystalline structures of bone like apatite.