Scientific article
English

In vivo evaluation of the bone integration of coated poly(vinyl-alcohol) hydrogel fiber implants

Publication date2017-08
First online date2017-06-19
Abstract

Recently, it has been shown that constructs of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel fibers reproduce closely the tensile behavior of ligaments. However, the biological response to these systems has not been explored yet. Here, we report the first in vivo evaluation of these implants and focus on the integration in bone, using a rabbit model of bone tunnel healing. Implants consisted in bundles of PVA hydrogel fibers embedded in a PVA hydrogel matrix. Half of the samples were coated with a composite coating of hydroxyapatite (HA) particles embedded in PVA hydrogel. The biological integration was evaluated at 6 weeks using histology and micro-CT imaging. For all implants, a good biological tolerance and growth of new bone tissue are reported. All the implants were surrounded by a fibrous layer comparable to what was previously observed for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fibers currently used in humans for ligament reconstruction. An image analysis method is proposed to quantify the thickness of this fibrous capsule. Implants coated with HA were not significantly osteoconductive, which can be attributed to the slow dissolution of the selected hydroxyapatite. Overall, these results confirm the relevance of PVA hydrogel fibers for ligament reconstruction and adjustments are proposed to enhance its osseointegration.

Keywords
  • Animals
  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry
  • Bone and Bones / pathology
  • Durapatite / chemistry
  • Extracellular Matrix / metabolism
  • Hydrogels / chemistry
  • Hydrolysis
  • Ligaments
  • Male
  • Materials Testing
  • Osseointegration
  • Osteolysis
  • Polyethylene Terephthalates / chemistry
  • Polyvinyl Alcohol
  • Prostheses and Implants
  • Rabbits
  • X-Ray Microtomography
Affiliation entities Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
MOREAU, David et al. In vivo evaluation of the bone integration of coated poly(vinyl-alcohol) hydrogel fiber implants. In: Journal of materials science. Materials in medicine, 2017, vol. 28, n° 8, p. 114. doi: 10.1007/s10856-017-5923-6
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
Additional URL for this publicationhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10856-017-5923-6
Journal ISSN0957-4530
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