Fretting stimulation enhances bone growth at the interface between hydroxyapatite coating and bone

Abstract

Biologically fixed arthroplasty is limited in its development by the long postoperative recovery time and the low quality of solidity of the fixed interface in the short postoperative period. Therefore, fretting stimulation is used to accelerate the combination between bone tissue and the biological fixation interface of artificial joint prostheses. The effects of different compression loads and tangential micro-motion amplitude on the growth rate of bone tissue and the firm quality of fixation interface were studied by using two kinds of micro-motion stimuli: compression and tangential micro-motion. The mechanism of micro-motion stimulation to promote bone growth at the fixation interface was revealed. The results of binding force detection of biological fixation interface and bone tissue section staining showed that the bone tissue and hydroxyapatite coating interface had the most tendency to produce new bone tissue under compression load of 4 N. In the tangential fretting environment, the tangential fretting amplitude of ± 40 µm and the normal load of 7.5 N were the most conducive to bone growth, making the combination of bone tissue and titanium alloy prosthesis coated with hydroxyapatite more firm. The study is important for accelerating the integration and shortening the rehabilitation time after artificial joint replacement.

Keywords: Biological fixation interface; Bone growth; Fretting stimulation; Hydroxyapatite coating.