Biomedical Materials and Engineering Center, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Electron probe and X-ray energy spectrum were used to investigate the chemical composition of the interface between material and new bone after porous tricalcium phosphate ceramic implanted in tibia of rabbits. The element changes of the interface, the materials transformation and the situation of new bone formation at different implantation period were observed. The results showed that the carbon element content decreased gradually in new bone tissue, and the content of calcium and phosphor element increased by degrees with the implantation time. At the same time, calcium-phosphor ratio in the new bone kept a higher level. New bone grew into the materials interior, material dispersed and degraded simultaneously. Both composition of materials and new bone tended to be consentient. Finally, the materials were substituted by new bone. After implantation, not only the materials itself dissolved and degraded partially, but also new bone formed on the outer and pore surface of β-TCP porous bioceramics, which showed that the degradation products of lifeless calcium phosphate inorganic materials took part in constituting of new bone tissue.