Agnes Ostafin, University of Notre Dame, Dept of Chemical Engineering, Notre Dame, IN 46556 and Stephanie Schmidt, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Dept of Chemical Engineering, Notre Dame, IN 46556.
While many nanoparticles appear to have serious cytotoxicity issues, here we report on a biocompatible nanoparticles made from calcium phosphate consisting of water, amorphous calcium phosphate, and lipids or surfactants that do not appear to have any adverse effects on the survivial of osteoblasts in culture. In fact they appear to enhance the ability of osteoblast to produce new bone material. The behavior of these nanoparticles inside the osteoblast cell is also described.