SOURCE MATERIAL
Lime-incrusted naturally grown red marine algae are the raw material in production of our medical devices (bone forming materials).There is a big variety of red algal species (more than 5000) all over the world. The algal species Corallina officinalis and Amphiroa ephedra (of the Coralinaceae – family) used for the manufacturing of the phycogenic products are harvested in the Atlantic Ocean on the coasts of France and South Africa.
[Corallina officinalis]
[Amphiroa ephedra]
Apart from organic matter, they contain a highly porous three dimensional hard tissue scaffold (skeleton), mainly consisting of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in form of calcite. The algae are built up of single calcite incrusted segments connected to each other by organic matter.
The obtained bone forming products are in a granular form with a snow white colour, where the original porous structure of the algal skeleton is preserved.