Synergistic Effects of Novel Superparamagnetic/Upconversion HA Material and Ti/Magnet Implant on Biological Performance and Long-Term In Vivo Tracking

Abstract

To solve the clinical challenges presented by the long-term tracking of implanted hydroxyapatite (HA) bone repair material and to investigate the synergistic effects of superparamagnetic HA and a static magnetic field (SMF) on the promotion of osteogenesis, herein a new type of superparamagnetic/upconversion-generating HA material (HYH-Fe) is developed via a two-step doping method, as well as a specially-designed titanium implant with a built-in magnet to provide a local static magnetic field in vivo. The results show that the prepared HYH-Fe material maintains the crystal structure of HA and exhibits good cytocompatibility. The combined use of the superparamagnetic HYH-Fe material and SMF can effectively and synergistically promote osteogenesis/osteointegration surrounding the Ti implants. In addition, the HYH-Fe material exhibits distinct advantages in terms of both long-term fluorescence tracking and microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) tracking. The new material and tracking strategy in this study provide scientific feasibility and will have important clinical value for long-term tracking and evaluation of implanted materials and the bone repair effect.

Keywords: local static magnetic fields; long-term in vivo tracking; superparamagnetic/upconversion hydroxyapatite; synergistic osteogenesis; titanium/magnet implants.