Scanning electron microscopy of the bone-bioactive implant interface.

Rods of three bioactive materials, apatite/wollastonite glass ceramic (AW-GC), bioactive glass (BG), and dense slip-cast hydroxyapatite (HA), were implanted in the femora of 23 Wistar rats for periods of 1-4 weeks. The samples were harvested following vascular perfusion fixation and the femora freeze-fractured for scanning electron microscopy to expose the bone/implant interface. The focus of our observations was when new bone was forming on the implant surfaces irrespective of the implantation period. Scanning microscopy of the hydroxyapatite rods demonstrated that in areas where bone bonding had occurred, the implant surface was composed of globular accretions which fused to form a cement-like matrix to which collagen fibers were attached. Dissolution of individual grains of the implant surface created a roughened surface topography. Such features were not found in the transcortical portions of these implants. Similar globular accretions were also found on the surface of bulk AW-GC, although bone apposition was not disrupted by the critical point-drying procedure, and thus the interface was more difficult to image. Nevertheless, the collagen of the bony compartment interdigitated with an interfacial layer which was morphologically similar to that found on HA. The most surface reactive material, BG, demonstrated an interfacial structure where the surface reactive calcium phosphate layer was clearly distinguished from the underlying bulk implant material. However, this layer was separated from the overlying collagen-containing bony compartment by a second, thinner, calcified layer which corresponded to the cement line matrix into which the collagen fibers were inserted. Our results show that the new bone interface formed with these three bioactive materials is morphologically comparable to that of cement lines found naturally in bone-remodeling sites, and that this interfacial layer is formed on the chemically active surface of the biomaterial. The degree to which the cement line matrix interdigitated with the implant was a product of the reactivity of the implant surface.