Evaluation of an injectable bioactive borate glass cement to heal bone defects in a rabbit femoral condyle model

• Published in: Materials Science & Engineering C Vol. 73; pp. 585 - 595
• Main Authors: Cui, Xu, Huang, Wenhai, Zhang, Yadong, Huang, Chengcheng, Yu, Zunxiong, Wang, Lei, Liu, Wenlong, Wang, Ting, Zhou, Jie, Wang, Hui, Zhou, Nai, Wang, Deping, Pan, Haobo, Rahaman, Mohamed N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Alkaline phosphatase; Alkaline Phosphatase - metabolism; Animals; Bioactive borate glass; Biocompatibility; Biocompatible Materials - pharmacology; Biological activity; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Bone biomaterials; Bone cement; Bone Cements - pharmacology; Bone growth; Bone repair; Bone surgery; Bones; Borates - pharmacology; Calcium; Calcium sulfate; Cell Death - drug effects; Cell Line; Cell proliferation; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Cell Shape - drug effects; Cement; Cements; Chitosan; Compressive Strength; Defects; Disease Models, Animal; Femur; Femur - diagnostic imaging; Femur - drug effects; Femur - pathology; Glass; Glass Ionomer Cements - pharmacology; Hydroxyapatite; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Implants, Experimental; Injectability; Injectable bioactive glass cement; Injections; Materials science; Materials Testing; Mice; Optical Imaging; Osteoblasts; Osteogenesis; Particulates; Phosphates; Rabbit femoral condyle model; Rabbits; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Sulfates; Surgery; Surgical implants; Temperature; Wound Healing - drug effects; X-Ray Diffraction; X-Ray Microtomography; Rabbit femoral condyle model; Bone repair; Bone cement; Bioactive borate glass; Injectable bioactive glass cement
• ISSN: 0928-4931; 1873-0191
• DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2016.12.101

There is a need for synthetic biomaterials to heal bone defects using minimal invasive surgery. In the present study, an injectable cement composed of bioactive borate glass particles and a chitosan bonding solution was developed and evaluated for its capacity to heal bone defects in a rabbit femoral condyle model. The injectability and setting time of the cement in vitro decreased but the compressive strength increased (8±2MPa to 31±2MPa) as the ratio of glass particles to chitosan solution increased (from 1.0gml−1 to 2.5gml−1). Upon immersing the cement in phosphate-buffered saline, the glass particles reacted and converted to hydroxyapatite, imparting bioactivity to the cement. Osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells showed enhanced proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity when incubated in media containing the soluble ionic product of the cement. The bioactive glass cement showed a better capacity to stimulate bone formation in rabbit femoral condyle defects at 12weeks postimplantation when compared to a commercial calcium sulfate cement. The injectable bioactive borate glass cement developed in this study could provide a promising biomaterial to heal bone defects by minimal invasive surgery. •New class of injectable bone cement composed of bioactive borate glass particles and chitosan bonding phase was created.•The cement is biocompatible and bioactive, and has a much lower temperature increase during setting than PMMA cement.•The cement has a more controllable degradation rate and higher strength over a longer time than calcium sulfate cement.•The cement showed a better ability to heal bone defects than calcium sulfate over a twelve-week implantation period.