title: Entangled titanium fibre balls combined with nano strontium hydroxyapatite in repairing bone defects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of entangled titanium fibre balls (ETFBs) combined with nano strontium hydroxyapatite (nano-Sr-HAP) on the repair of bone defects in vivo.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-four 6-month-old, specific pathogen-free, male Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Drill defects were created in bilateral femoral condyles. ETFBs combined with nano-Sr-HAP were selected randomly from 72 samples and implanted into the femoral bone defects of left legs, which served as the experimental group, while ETFBs without nano-Sr-HAP were implanted into right legs for comparison. The bone defects on both sides were X-rayed. The anteroposterior positions and histological procedures and evaluations of each sample were performed at 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks post-surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Histological results showed that the ETBs allowed new bone to grow within their structure. Additionally, an increase in new bone was seen on the nano-Sr-HAP side compared to the control side. The results of histomorphometric analysis confirmed that the new bone formation on the left side gradually increased with time. There was a statistical increase in new bone at 2, 4 and 8 weeks, and the differences between the two sides were statistically significant at weeks 4 and 8 (p < 0.05 for all comparisons).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results showed that ETFBs possess a unique 3-dimensional interconnective porous structure and have excellent biocompatibility, cell affinity and osteoconductivity, which makes them useful as scaffold materials for repairing bone defects. On the other hand, nano-Sr-HAP improved the bone defect-repairing capacity of the ETFBs, which showed osteoinductive properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research and Development, Shanghai Shanshan Tech. Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yongmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jipeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001846:Bone Development / Q000502:physiology; D005269:Femur / Q000601:surgery*; D006882:Hydroxyapatites / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D049329:Nanostructures; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013324:Strontium / Q000737:chemistry*; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D006882:Hydroxyapatites; C076185:strontium hydroxyapatite; C101914:titanium fiber; D014025:Titanium; D013324:Strontium