title: A comparative study on the in vivo degradation of poly(L-lactide) based composite implants for bone fracture fixation.
abstract: Composite of nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HAP) surface grafted with poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) (g-HAP) showed improved interface compatibility and mechanical property for bone fracture fixation. In this paper, in vivo degradation of n-HAP/PLLA and g-HAP/PLLA composite implants was investigated. The mechanical properties, molecular weight, thermal properties as well as crystallinity of the implants were measured. The bending strength of the n- and g-HAP/PLLA composites showed a marked reduction from an initial value of 102 and 114 MPa to 33 and 24 MPa at 36 weeks, respectively. While the bending strength of PLLA was maintained at 80 MPa at 36 weeks compared with initial value of 107 MPa. The impact strength increased over time especially for the composites. Significant differences in the molecular weight were seen among all the materials and g-HAP/PLLA appeared the fastest rate of decrease than others. Environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) results demonstrated that an apparently porous morphology full of pores and hollows were formed in the composites. The results indicated that the in vivo degradation of PLLA could be accelerated by the g-HAP nanoparticles. It implied that g-HAP/PLLA composites might be a candidate for human non-load bearing bone fracture fixation which needs high initial strength and fast degradation rate.
authors: Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, PR China.
authors: Zongliang
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Nano Medical Engineering Laboratory, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 Japan.|Emergent Bioengineering Materials Research Team, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198 Japan.
authors: Yoshihiro
authors: Y
authors: Ito
authors: Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors: Peibiao
authors: P
authors: Zhang
authors: Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
authors: Xuesi
authors: X
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000818:Animals; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000737:chemistry*; D017886:Durapatite / Q000737:chemistry*; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000379:methods*; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry*; D011091:Polyesters / Q000737:chemistry*; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D018786:Bone Substitutes; D011091:Polyesters; C033616:poly(lactide); D017886:Durapatite