Bone Cement Formulation with Reduced Heating of Bone Cement Resin

Abstract

Bone cement material is one of the key materials in bone surgery and orthopedic medicine. In this study, commercial polymethyl-methacrylate bone cement was mixed with boric acid and zinc borate to reduce the reaction temperature of the bone cement. The observation of temperature changes during the polymerization using laser thermometer and thermal camera showed that the use of boron compounds decreased the temperature of the bone cement at least 10 °C which is very critical for the biomaterial uses as it affects the biocompatibility of the material. Besides temperature monitoring, microbiological tests showed that the materials have certain antibacterial effect. Water contact angle studies also supported the biocompatibility studies. In the last part, mechanical tests showed that there was not significant change in the tensile strength and tensile modulus values. Antibacterial tests exhibited that zinc borate addition shows antimicrobial activity against S.epidermidis as well as boric acid addition over %5 concentration. According to the cell culture studies, boric acid can be interpreted as non-toxic up to 10%, while 10% and 20% zinc borate has toxic effect. This is the first study to use boron compounds in bone cement and it is proved that boric acid at low concentrations can be used for bone cement applications but zinc borate would not be suitable to use in medical applications due to toxic effects.