Abstract
Acrylic bone cement is widely used in orthopedic surgery for treating various conditions of the bone and joints. Bone cement consists of methyl methacrylate (MMA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and benzoyl peroxide (BPO), functioning as a liquid monomer, solid phase, and polymerization initiator, respectively. However, cell and tissue toxicity caused by bone cement has been a concern. This study aimed to determine the effect of tri-n-butyl borane (TBB) as an initiator on the biocompatibility of bone cement. Rat spine bone marrow-derived osteoblasts were cultured on two commercially available PMMA-BPO bone cements and a PMMA-TBB experimental material. After a 24-h incubation, more cells survived on PMMA-TBB than on PMMA-BPO. Cytomorphometry showed that the area of cell spread was greater on PMMA-TBB than on PMMA-BPO. Analysis of alkaline phosphatase activity, gene expression, and matrix mineralization showed that the osteoblastic differentiation was substantially advanced on the PMMA-TBB. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy revealed that polymerization radical production within the PMMA-TBB was 1/15–1/20 of that within the PMMA-BPO. Thus, the use of TBB as an initiator, improved the biocompatibility and physicochemical properties of the PMMA-based material.
Highlights
The prevalence of skeletal diseases and disorders is on a sharp increase, due to the ageing population
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-based bone cements consist of PMMA powder, methyl methacrylate (MMA) liquid, and benzoyl peroxide (BPO), which acts as a polymerization initiator
After 9 min, the temperature remained at 33 °C or higher around the PMMA-BPO cements without a clear downturn, while the temperature dropped below 28 °C around the PMMA-tri-n-butyl borane (TBB) material
Summary
The prevalence of skeletal diseases and disorders is on a sharp increase, due to the ageing population. Free radicals and oxidative stress derived from bone cements lead to a significant reduction in the cell viability, proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of osteoblasts [25,26,27,28,29,30]. To mitigate this problem, an effective measure was introduced to neutralize free radicals. The above-mentioned additive measures to counteract the negative physicochemical properties of bone cements were effective to improve its biocompatibility, cytotoxicity and clinical complications still remain significant concerns, due to the fundamental reaction and behavior of PMMA polymerization [8,21,32,44,45,46].
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