Department of Orthopedics, The People's Hospital of Suzhou New District, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215129, China.
Medical 3D Printing Center, Orthopedic Institute, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Biology and Basic Medical Sciences, Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215000, China.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2024 Sep 9;10(9):5624-5631. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.4c00552. Epub 2024 Aug 6.
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) bone cements have been widely used in orthopedics; thanks to their excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and chemical stability. Barium sulfate and zirconia are usually added into PMMA bone cement to enhance the X-ray radiopacity, while the mechanical strength, radiopacity, and biocompatibility are not well improved. In this study, an insoluble and corrosion-resistant ceramic, tantalum carbide (TaC), was added into the PMMA bone cement as radiopacifies, significantly improving the mechanical, radiopaque, biocompatibility, and osteogenic performance of bone cement. The TaC-PMMA bone cement with varied TaC contents exhibits compressive strength over 100 MPa, higher than that of the commercial 30% BaSO-PMMA bone cement. Intriguingly, when the TaC content reaches 20%, the radiopacity is equivalent to the commercial bone cement with 30% of BaSO in PMMA. The cytotoxicity and osteogenic performance indicate that the incorporation of TaC not only enhances the osteogenic properties of PMMA but also does not reduce cell viability. This study suggests that TaC could be a superior and multifunctional radio-pacifier for PMMA bone cement, offering a promising avenue for improving patient outcomes in orthopedic applications.
聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）骨水泥在骨科中得到了广泛的应用；由于其优异的机械性能、生物相容性和化学稳定性。硫酸钡和氧化锆通常被添加到 PMMA 骨水泥中以提高 X 射线射线不透性，而机械强度、射线不透性和生物相容性并没有得到很好的改善。在这项研究中，将不溶性和耐腐蚀陶瓷碳化钽（TaC）添加到 PMMA 骨水泥中作为射线不透性物质，显著提高了骨水泥的机械强度、射线不透性、生物相容性和成骨性能。具有不同 TaC 含量的 TaC-PMMA 骨水泥的抗压强度超过 100MPa，高于商业 30%BaSO-PMMA 骨水泥。有趣的是，当 TaC 含量达到 20%时，射线不透性相当于 PMMA 中 30%BaSO 的商业骨水泥。细胞毒性和成骨性能表明，TaC 的掺入不仅增强了 PMMA 的成骨特性，而且不会降低细胞活力。这项研究表明，TaC 可能是 PMMA 骨水泥的一种优越的多功能射线不透性物质，为改善矫形应用中的患者结果提供了有希望的途径。
