4. Conclusion and outlook

Phosphocalcic apatites and their derivatives are bio-inspired compounds with a wide range of biomedical applications. Their ability to accommodate a wide range of ionic substituents and their high surface reactivity open up many original prospects. With the aim of interacting at cellular or tissue level in vivo and for different applications, it is relevant to have (nano)particles of controlled size or even colloidal and to adsorb to the surface organic molecules conferring therapeutic properties to the (nano)particle or facilitating targeted therapy (targeting agent). The mineral core of particles can also be loaded with bioactive ions (antibacterial, anti-inflammatory...) or be of interest for medical diagnostics (e.g. Eu ³⁺ for luminescence). Figure