Patent ID: 8008357

Claim:
A method for controlling an average pore diameter of a porous body comprising a fibrous apatite/collagen composite, said porous body being produced by: gelating a dispersion comprising said fibrous apatite/collagen composite, collagen and water; freeze-drying the resultant gel to form a porous body; and cross-linking the collagen in said porous body, wherein the average pore diameter of the porous body is controlled by the following in the following order: a) freezing pluralities of gels at various freezing-environment temperatures and measuring the solidification time of each gel to prepare a graph showing the relation between the freezing-environment temperature and the solidification time; b) measuring the average pore diameter of the porous body obtained at various lengths of solidification time to prepare a graph showing the relation between solidification time and average pore diameter; c) determining the solidification time for providing a desired average pore diameter of said porous body from the graph of the solidification time and the average pore diameter; and d) determining the freezing-environment temperature for achieving the determined solidification time from the graph of the freezing-environment temperature and the solidification time.