Autor(es):
Boesel, L. F.
; Azevedo, Helena S.
; Reis, R. L.
Data: 2006
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/20153
Origem: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Descrição
Hydrophilic, partially degradable, and bioactive cements (HDBCs) are starch-containing cements intended to
degrade partially in the human body and, in so doing, allow for bone ingrowth inside the pores formed during
degradation. Therefore, the study of degradation and bioactivity behavior was performed to assess the suitability
of the current HDBCs formulations to achieve those aims. The degradation profile of HDBCs was studied under
different conditions, including incubation in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and PBS supplemented with R-amylase
at different concentrations. Thermostable R-amylase was also added to some formulations to allow control of the
degradation rate and its extent. In a second stage the simultaneous phenomena of enzymatic degradation and
bioactivity (both in vitro) was studied. We observed that the degradation of starch present in HDBCs can be
easily controlled by the amount of R-amylase added to the cement and high values of degradation may be achieved
if high enough quantities of enzyme are incorporated. However, the maximum degradation extent is much more
dependent on the total amount of starch present in the formulation than on the amount of enzyme added to it: for
full pore connectivity, the amount of starch should be higher than the percolation threshold for a 3D specimen.
Nonetheless, calcium phosphate was able to nucleate and spread in inner pores of the cement, formed due to
degradation, if they were interconnected. For a more thorough covering of the pores with calcium phosphates the
amount of starch present in HDBCs should be increased to be higher than the percolation threshold.