アパタイトセメントの硬化環境がアパタイトへの相変換と機械的強さに及ぼす影響について

抄録

A type of apatite cement, Biopex^® could come into contact with either only a little or a lot of body fluid in clinical cases when used for the reconstruction of bone defect. Therefore, in the present study, effects of hardening environment on the conversion and the mechanical strength of Biopex^® were studied with respect to humidity, in order to understand the detailed behaviour of Biopex^®. We found a slower conversion of Biopex^® to apatite in an incubator kept at 37℃ and 100% relative humidity, a circumstance simulating only a little body fluid, than in saline at 37℃, simulating a lot of body fluid. The mechanical strength of Biopex^® increased with time, reaching a maximum value approximately at 1-2 weeks regardless of the hardening environment with the Biopex^® employed in this study. However, the mechanical strength of Biopex^® kept in an incubator showed higher values (p＜0.05) when compared with Biopex^® was immersed in saline solution.
We concluded, therefore that the regulation of the hardening environment is important to realize faster conversion and/or obtain a monolith with a higher mechanical strength.