The present study combined clodronate, one of bisphosphonates, to the surface of HA scaffold by chelation. The cell culture test and gene expression test were performed and evaluated the effect of clodronate modifying the HA on co-culturing osteoblast with HA scaffold in vitro. Characteristic peaks in XPS and FT-IR spectra indicated clodronate being immobilized on the surface of HA. The cell culture test indicated that the cells actively proliferated on the scaffolds. The results of RT-PCR showed there was no significant difference between two groups in expression of RANKL gene, while the expression of OPG gene showed higher expression in Clodronate-HA group. Clodronate had no obvious effect on the cytocompatibility of HA, and Clodronate-HA might be used as bone scaffold with potential ability to improve osteogenesis. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.