The ultrastructure of the interface between a glass ceramic and bone.

The interface of alkali-poor glass ceramic implanted in femora of male Sprague-Dawley rats shows soft tissue, chondroid, osteoid, and bone in connection with the implant. The ultrastructure of the interface with soft tissue mainly exhibits a corrosion process, during which the dissolution of the crystalline phase of the glass ceramic precedes the dissolution of the glassy phase. Macrophages are involved in this process phagocytosing debris of the glassy phase and removing as well as dissolving the remainders of the glass ceramic. Under circumstances not yet fully understood, the corrosion stops, and ground substance like material is deposited, which can be, at least partially, mineralized. After the disappearance of macrophages, chondroblasts, and/or osteoblasts lay down collagen fibrils and ground substance in which matrix vesicles are discernible, representing initial foci of mineralization. Areas with bone connection display collagen fibers and deposits of apatite crystals in close relationship to the bulk glass ceramic as well as small particles mainly derived from the glassy phase of the implant, providing the micromorphological substrate for the shearing and tensile strength of the interface between glass ceramic and bone.