title: In vivo characterization of titanium implants coated with synthetic hydroxyapatite by electrophoresis.
abstract: This study compared in vivo the performances of commercially pure titanium (cp Ti) screw dental implants either uncoated or coated with synthetic hydroxyapatite (HA) by electrophoresis. The HA coating was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Well-adhered carbonated-hydroxyapatite layers (4- to-8-microm-thick) were obtained. In vivo tests were carried out by insertion of both uncoated and HA-coated implants into rabbit tibiae for 8 or 12 weeks. Histomorphometric analysis was performed by scanning electron microscopy with the aid of image-processing software. Results showed significantly greater bone-implant contact for HA-coated implants (p<0.05) than cp Ti implants. Comparison of bone content inside the screw implants showed no significant differences (p>0.05) between both types of implants, although cp Ti had numerically higher percentage of bone content than HA-coated implants. In conclusion, the HA-coated implants had better performance regarding the bone-implant contact area than the uncoated implants; coating by electrophoresis proved to be a valuable process to coat metallic implants with an osteoconductive material such as hydroxyapatite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, COPPE, UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cristina de Almeida
authors.initials: Cde A
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Lídia Agata
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Sena
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: José Henrique Lima
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cavalcanti
authors.forename: Glória de Almeida
authors.initials: Gde A
authors.lastname: Soares
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D015921:Dental Implants; D017886:Durapatite; D004586:Electrophoresis; D005260:Female; D020007:Implants, Experimental; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D016348:Osseointegration; D011817:Rabbits; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013977:Tibia; D014025:Titanium
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D015921:Dental Implants; D017886:Durapatite; D014025:Titanium