MOSCOW, April 2 Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University have developed a new approach to creating affordable modern implants for maxillofacial surgery. According to the authors, the development will reduce the rehabilitation period for patients after surgery to restore bone defects. The results were published in the journal Materials Letters.
Restoring bone tissue defects requires a personalized approach: the implant must take into account the anatomical characteristics of each patient. At the Public Access Additive Technologies Center of Tomsk Polytechnic University, such implants are produced by 3D printing from domestically produced fluoroplastic polymer. This biologically inert material ensures the absence of allergies and other negative reactions of the body to the implant. At the same time, this polymer does not fuse well with bone tissue.
Scientists at Tomsk Polytechnic University set themselves the task of applying hydroxyapatite particles, a mineral component of bone, to the surface of fluoroplastic, which promotes the attachment and reproduction of bone tissue cells. In traumatology, orthopedics and surgery, synthetic hydroxyapatite is used as a filler to replace parts of lost tissue, and as a coating for implants to promote the growth of new bone. In dentistry, it is used in toothpastes to remineralize and strengthen tooth enamel.
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The novelty of the method developed by Tomsk Polytechnic University scientists for applying hydroxyapatite particles to the surface of fluoroplastic implants is that it can be implemented using exclusively Russian materials and equipment in any chemical laboratory, said Semyon Goreninsky, a researcher at the Public Access Additive Technologies Center of Tomsk Polytechnic University.< br />
“Our approach is based on treating the surface of the implant with a specially selected solvent system. This treatment leads to the formation of a swollen layer of polymer to which the hydroxyapatite particles “stick,” he said.
In collaboration with colleagues from the Institute of Cytology RAS and the Physico-Technical Institute named after A.F. Ioffe RAS, Tomsk Polytechnic scientists have established that the new method improves the attachment of human stem cells to the surfaces of implants with hydroxyapatite.
“In the future, this approach can be used to create implants for restoring bone tissue defects (for example, in maxillofacial surgery), which will take root better in the body and also become more accessible. This will reduce the rehabilitation period for patients after surgery, and they will be able to return to a full life faster,” Goreninsky noted.
According to him, similar research has been going on for quite a long time, but to solve the problems they use plasma methods, which require expensive and bulky equipment.
In the future, scientists, with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, will solve the problem of applying hydroxyapatite to porous implants of complex shape.
The research was carried out within the framework of the “Priority 2030” program of the national project “Science and Universities”.
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