MOSCOW, September 25. The possibility of practical use of bone implants made from domestic biodegradable polymer was experimentally demonstrated by Siberian Federal University scientists. According to them, the use of the development will in the future help in treatment and improve the quality of life of people with injuries, osteoporosis, and congenital orthopedic defects. The results were published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Today, 3D printing is one of the most promising technologies in reconstructive medicine. It allows you to obtain individual medical products, including those for tissue engineering. The success of the development of medical 3D printing is largely determined by the development of new materials with the necessary properties, ensuring the creation of bioimplants with a set of necessary characteristics.
Scientists at Siberian Federal University (SFU) are working on the creation of biodegradable polymer materials for three-dimensional printing of tissue matrices. Such products are needed for structural remodeling of bone tissue, when the body’s own resources are insufficient and it is necessary to fill the volume of the defect using implants.
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During the study, specialists were able to confirm in vivo (in an experiment on animals) the effectiveness of using 3D products from the biodegradable polymer material they synthesized to fill bone cavities.
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"A significant result is confirmation of our hypothesis about the possibility of using 3Dprinting technologyFDM of durable, highly porous structures of complex shapes and various sizes from domestic polyhydroxyalkanoates of microbiological origin for bone restoration,” said the head of the Department of Medical Biology of the Institute of Fundamental Biology and Biotechnology of Siberian Federal University, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences. Ekaterina Shishatskaya.
She added that these materials are synthesized in Krasnoyarsk using the author’s patented technology. According to the developers, they were the first in Russia to implement the technology of producing a cartridge for a 3D printer from biodegradable thermoplastic and also implemented all stages of the research, including the implantation experiment. The work took several years, the experiment on animals lasted about six months. X-ray and histological analysis confirmed the formation of healthy bone tissue and complete restoration of the defect after 150 days of observation, the scientists reported.
According to experts, the results allow us to conclude that the use of absorbable 3D implants for bone grafting in humans is promising. The study showed gradual biodegradation of implants, their high biocompatibility and active formation of bone tissue at the site of the defect.
“It is phenomenally simple and accessible in any city in our country — to make a tomogram, calculate the volume and size of the bone defect and print an implant from our polymer. The FDM printing technique is now being taught to a large number of young people at universities and even schools. Of course, where work begins with patient, everything is more complicated — the qualifications of an orthopedic doctor must be very high: such treatment requires a complex open operation with dissection and connection of a large volume of tissue, postoperative rehabilitation will be required,” said Konstantin Kistersky, assistant at the Department of Medical Biology of Siberian Federal University.
The advantage of the development is that there is no need to use donor bone or the bone of the patient himself — this polymer material perfectly performs its functions. “In addition, the development will make it possible to expand the indications for orthopedic corrections, since the issue of volumetric restrictions for implants is removed — we have a lot of polymer, and we can print products of quite large sizes,” added Shishatskaya.
To analyze and control the characteristics of products, chromatography, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray spectroscopy, studies of mechanical characteristics — elastic modulus and tensile strength were used , as well as fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. The products were also tested in experiments with cell culture.
At this stage, scientists are faced with the task of repeating the experiment with a more complex type of bone defect, then a transition to clinical trials is possible.
The work was carried out with funds from the state assignment of the Ministry science and higher education of the Russian Federation (project No. 0287-2021-0025).
The research is carried out within the framework of the university development strategy under the Priority 2030 program