Microstructural changes in bone of HA-coated implants.

In our previous comparative push-out test of HA-coated implants and dense HA implants in dog bone, the ratio of the push-out value of the HA-coated implant to that of the dense HA implant decreased with time due to weakening of the HA coating as compared to the dense, more durable HA. The aim of this study was to investigate by histological examination of HA-coated implants in dog bone, using TEM, how this weakening of the HA coating occurs. The HA coating before implantation is composed of an amorphous glassy phase and a crystal phase scattered within the glassy phase. After implantation, the crystal phase remained almost unchanged. However, in the glassy phase, crystallization occurred and progressed with time. By 3 weeks after implantation, this crystallization already had started in the surface portion of the HA coating where it was covered by bone and also where it still touched the soft tissue. By 10 months, the crystallization had progressed to the deeper portion of the HA coating and had expanded to most of the glassy phase except for the narrow portions along the substrate-coating interface. These findings suggest that a progression of crystallization in the glassy phase causes stress accumulation within the HA coating, especially in the interface between the HA coating and the substrate, and that this stress accumulation results in a weakening of the HA-coated implant.