| abstract |
A thin, strong, flexible mineralized collagen membrane is disclosed that is useful for such medical applications as a barrier for guided tissue regeneration, periodontal defect repair, bone grafts and skin wound repair. The mineralized collagen membrane comprises a substantially homogeneous mineralized collagen composite consisting essentially of about 30% to about 70% by weight of a collagen component and about 30% to about 70% by weight of a calcium phosphate minerals component precipitated from a collagen slurry by a soluble calcium ion-containing solution and a soluble phosphate ion-containing solution. The calcium phosphate minerals component has a mole ratio of calcium to phosphate in the range of about 1.0 to about 2.0. The thin, strong, flexible mineralized collagen membrane has a bulk density of at least about 1.0 g/cm 3 . A corresponding method of making the thin, strong, flexible mineralized collagen membrane is disclosed, including the steps of casting the washed mineralized collagen slurry into a thin sheet on a filtering media, air drying the thin sheet of mineralized collagen slurry and removing the dried sheet from the filtering media as a thin, strong, flexible mineralized collagen membrane. |