Zirconia bio-ceramic hollow fiber membranes were developed using a sequence of mixing, extrusion, phase inversion and sintering steps. ZrO2 partially stabilized by Y2O3 was chosen as the starting membrane material. The prepared membranes were characterized by SEM, EDX, XRD and gas permeation techniques. Effects of the starting ZrO2 particle size and sintering temperature on the physical properties of the resulted hollow fiber membranes were extensively studied. Sintered at 1400 degrees C for 10 h, membranes made from 80 nm sized ZrO2 particles display cubic fluorite as the major crystalline phase and give rise to interesting microstructure for cell response. Without any surface modification, this tailor-made membrane with high mechanical strength and pore size less than 1 mu m was selected for further test of osteoblast attachment. In vitro bio-compatibility was evaluated by using mouse MC-3T3-E1 osteoblast cell culture. A series of cell interactions with fiber surface (i.e. cell adhesion, proliferation, formation of bone nodules, mineralization, etc.) verified the bio-compatibility of the prepared membranes. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.