Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A team of researchers from Mexico is working to domestically develop biomedical implants that featured nanostructures that allow compatibility with metal and human bone tissues and reduce that country’s reliance on implants that are manufactured abroad.
In fact, according to the Research Center for Advanced Materials (Cimav) Unit Monterrey, several such projects are in the works at the facility in northern Mexico. All of them share a single goal: conduct research and apply what they’ve learned to improve development of local biomedical implants through the development of novel materials and coating systems.
Cimav, which is part of the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) and located at the Park of Research and Technological Innovation (PIIT), is using these innovations to manufacture hip and knee implants, and ultimately plans to adapt their findings and apply them for use in dental implants as well.
Cimav scholar Ana Maria Arizmendi Morquecho and her colleagues are combining research that focuses on nanostructured materials with biocompatible and antibacterial properties. Their goal, she explained, is to find ways to improve the compatibility of a metal structure with the chemical composition of a person’s natural bone tissue and bone-related nanostructures.
“The biocompatibility is the ability of a material to be in contact with a living being without adverse effects, therefore represents one of the most important properties in the manufacture of a biomedical implant,” Arizmendi Morquecho explained. “Currently the knee and hip implants are complex systems made of titanium alloy substrates, which require a coating compatible with bone tissue and physiological fluids using nanotechnology; to achieve this intermediate coating deposition techniques of new synthesized materials are used.”
“We use a ceramic material which is compatible with the bone, in this case hydroxyapatite, which is used as a matrix and nanoparticles from other materials are used to reinforce it and provide improvements to the bicompatibility, joint wear and mechanical properties,” she added, noting that such materials need to be complex and functional since they have to be resistant to wear, possess improved mechanical properties and be compatible with the human body.
The Cimav researchers explained that, due to the complexity required for the knee implant system, the work has been broken down into multiple parts. One research team is focusing on the coating that will be used to join the metal substrate (titanium alloy) to the bone. They are also studying the polymeric biomaterials that will be in contact with the articulation, as well as how the entire structure will be compatible with fluids in the patient’s body.
“Each research is a graduate level thesis and participation of a multidisciplinary group of researchers that ultimately come together for the same product, a final component,” said Arizmendi Morquecho.
“The next stage of the project is to validate in vitro and in vivo synthesized material at a laboratory level, for which the link with other entities such as medical schools and academic institutions specialized in this type of testing is necessary,” she added. “It’s important to note that compatibility tests are standardized under sanitary policies and those entities are responsible for validation in our developments.”
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