| Title | Repairing Bone with 3-D Printing | |
| Date | Wednesday April 19 2017, @01:03AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the research-of-substance dept. | ||
Metallic implants—widely used clinically to replace diseased or damaged bone tissue—are not biodegradable and stay in the human body until removed surgically. The implants may also have problems with corrosion and could cause a negative reaction with the immune system. As a result, new polymer-based biodegradable implants are being developed to provide a needed alternative to metal.
Inspired by the structure of natural bone that provides a porous load-bearing scaffold to house soft biological cells, Assistant Professor Pranav Soman and his research team are using 3-D printing to create polymer scaffolding that can be filled with bone-forming human cells.
The polymer scaffold provides the initial support structure, while the cells eventually fill in and develop into bone, replacing the polymer that slowly degrades, providing a more natural replacement for the bone.
[...]The polymer component used in this work is called PCL, a Food and Drug Administration-approved biomaterial. This polymer is processed at a high temperature and then filled with gelatin laden with bone-forming cells that can deposit bone mineral or hydroxyapatite within the gelatin matrix. Once filled and exposed to ultraviolet light, the hybrid structure can both support the load and sustain the growth of the cells.
No more casts, no more pins.
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