Brushite bone cement containing polyethylene glycol for bone regeneration.

BACKGROUND

Bone cements aid in bone regeneration; however, if the handling time is not well established for the material to harden, complications may arise.

OBJECTIVE

This work investigates the effect of using polyethylene glycol (PEG) and characterize it in brushite bone cement in order to obtain desirable handling times as well as its regeneration in vivo to analyse if addition of this polymer may significantly modify its properties.

METHODS

PEG 4000 was synthesised with wollastonite by phosphorization reaction in order to form brushite which was further cured by oven drying. They were further characterised and tested in vivo as tibial bone defect model using rabbits.

RESULTS

Addition of PEG exhibited handling times of 60 min with a low increase in temperature when curing. Brushite phase of ∼71% was obtained after cement hardening with good compressive strength (25 MPa) and decent values of porosity (33%). In vivo presented that, at 40 days postoperatively, accelerated bone neoformation with partial consolidation at 30 days and total after 60 days when using bone cement.

CONCLUSIONS

Addition of PEG does not disrupt the beneficial properties of the bone cement and can be a potential alternative to control the time-temperature profile of hardening these materials.