Advances in Science and Technology Vol. 76

Abstract: Studies of titanium and its alloys commonly used as biomaterials aim to improve bone-implant interface related problems, which may determine the quality, bone repairing time and therefore the implant clinical success. The goal of this study was to evaluate, in rats, osseointegration of macroporous implants produced by powder metallurgy (PM) method with controlled addition of gelatin. As control group, samples of commercially pure titanium (cpTi) and Ti-13Nb-13Zr alloy obtained by the PM process were used. To obtaining the porous samples, at most 15% in weight of gelatin was added to metallic powders, the samples were thermally treated in vacuum furnace, and sintered at 1150°C. The osseointegration evaluation was performed in Wistar rats, males, for a 28 days period. The morphological analyses, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), evaluated qualitatively the osseointegration. The PM process modified by addition of gelatin provides with success the obtaining of porous metallic implants. Pore size obtained by this technique allowed the necessary nourishing to cell survival, proving that pores and channels form a high interconnectable network represented by the osseointegration and osteoconduction feature of the porous alloy.

Abstract: Based on recent experiments made by the present authors on a “pH-muscle” functioning in an admissible physiologically pH-range, a global analysis is developed for a future “artificial muscle implant” both safe and efficient. A scheme of a possible future artificial muscle implant is shown associating our current prototype, whose skeletal muscle-like behaviour is provided by McKibben artificial muscle technology, with the use of a bio-compatible micro-organism, to be specified, which would be able to generate the necessary ionic-strength change to the swelling and de-swelling of the ion-sensitive agent placed inside the McKibben structure. Preliminary experimental results are reported of a 10 cm long artificial muscle and 8 mm external diameter filled with a RCOOH commercial Amberlite resin generating a maximum force of 80 N with buffer solutions of pH between 4.5 and 8.4 in some tens of minutes with the hope of obtaining quicker responses by use of more specific ion-sensitive polymers.