A new type of flexible artificial bone developed by researchers at Northwestern University can be 3D printed, shaped, and sutured to tissues and appears to act like natural bone when inside the human body, according to a study published this week in Science Translational Medicine.
Adam Jakus, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of materials science and engineering, and his colleagues told reporters via a telephone briefing that the material, which they call “hyperelastic bone,” could be used to create customized implants. It could also be useful when repairing bones that are injured or deformed, according to NBC News and the Los Angeles Times.
The researchers tested the material in a monkey and reported that it not only successfully fused to the creature’s skull, but that it became fully integrated and had new blood vessels grow into it. Furthermore, Jakus said that there was “actually evidence of new bone formation.”
The material is inexpensive and could be used for a wide range of different injuries, including those to the jaw, skull, and spine. They added that it is easy for doctors to manipulate and that it could drastically speed up recovery time following these types of procedures. Jakus and his colleagues hope they will be able to test the artificial bone in humans before 2022.
The material seen under an electron microscope. (Credit: Adam E. Jakus, PhD)
Material could help patients with birth defects, those in developing countries
According to the Times, surgeons typically repair damaged bone using either ceramic fillers or scaffolds made out of a calcium- and phosphate-rich mineral known as hydroxyapatite, which is similar to the material that most human bone is comprised of. However, while these substances mesh well with natural tissue, they can be stiff and difficult to modify.
More malleable options are often packed with tiny particles that are washed away by blood flow during the operation, and some are not porous enough for blood cells to become integrated with the bone graft. Jakus, biomaterials engineer Ramille Shah, and their associates set out to create a new type of 3D printed material that would be biocompatible, porous and easy to reshape.
They came up with a combination of hydroxyapatite and either polycaprolactone or polylactic-co-glycolic acid that can be compressed more than 50% of its original height without suffering any damage and can be can be 3D-printed quickly (producing up to 275 cm3/hour). When they placed the hyperelastic bone into the monkey, it became fully integrated in just four weeks.
“Despite the fact that it is majority ceramic, which is usually very brittle, it possesses very unique nano and micro-structural properties that makes it highly elastic,” Shah told reporters with NBC News and other media outlets. “The first time that we actually 3-D printed this material, we were very surprised to find that when we squeezed or deformed it, it bounced right back to its original shape.”
The material can also be “easily cut, rolled, folded, and sutured to tissue,” she added. “And since it is elastic, it can be pressed, fit into a defect, and expand to mechanically fix itself into a space without glue or sutures.” Shah and her colleagues believe that the hyperelastic bone could greatly help those born with craniofacial birth defects, and would be useful in developing nations, where it could be sent ahead of time and safely kept on-hand until needed.
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Image credit: Adam E. Jakus, PhD
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