title: An X-ray micro-fluorescence study to investigate the distribution of Al, Si, P and Ca ions in the surrounding soft tissue after implantation of a calcium phosphate-mullite ceramic composite in a rabbit animal model.
abstract: Synthetic calcium phosphates, despite their bioactivity, are brittle. Calcium phosphate- mullite composites have been suggested as potential dental and bone replacement materials which exhibit increased toughness. Aluminium, present in mullite, has however been linked to bone demineralisation and neurotoxicity: it is therefore important to characterise the materials fully in order to understand their in vivo behaviour. The present work reports the compositional mapping of the interfacial region of a calcium phosphate--20 wt% mullite biocomposite/soft tissue interface, obtained from the samples implanted into the long bones of healthy rabbits according to standard protocols (ISO-10993) for up to 12 weeks. X-ray micro-fluorescence was used to map simultaneously the distribution of Al, P, Si and Ca across the ceramic-soft tissue interface. A well defined and sharp interface region was present between the ceramic and the surrounding soft tissue for each time period examined. The concentration of Al in the surrounding tissue was found to fall by two orders of magnitude, to the background level, within ~35 μm of the implanted ceramic.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering & Applied Sciences and Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing, University of Aston, Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK. R.A.Martin@Aston.ac.uk
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Zahira
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jaffer
authors.forename: Garima
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tripathi
authors.forename: Shekhar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nath
authors.forename: Mira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lagarde
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Flank
authors.forename: Artemis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stamboulis
authors.forename: Bikramjit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Basu
mesh_terms: D000538:Aluminum Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D004577:Electron Probe Microanalysis; D008422:Materials Testing; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011817:Rabbits; D013995:Time
chemical_list: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002130:Calcium Phosphates; D008670:Metals; C049037:aluminosilicate; C020243:calcium phosphate