In clinical practice, autologous or allogeneic bone transplantation has been widely used to repair bone defects. Therefore, a variety of artificial bone materials, including metal materials and polymer materials, have attracted extensive attention. Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr alloy has the best corrosion resistance, tantalum and niobium have the ability to promote bone regeneration, zirconium can change the lattice structure of the alloy, improve the strength of higher. However, the stent made by traditional method has some disadvantages, such as irregular pore size, unsuitable mechanical properties and poor interpore connectivity. Therefore, a great deal of effort has been devoted to modifying the porous structure and mechanical properties of titanium-tantalum-niobium-zirconium implants.
With the development of 3D printing technology, various implant forms can be obtained by using computer-aided design model and computer imaging data. Among several existing 3D printing technologies, SLM has been widely used for its stability and accuracy. The researchers used SLM to print a porous Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr scaffold and applied it to the study of bone repair. The biosafety of the scaffold was also discussed, and its osteogenic activity and osteointegration ability were evaluated. Firstly, we printed Ti-6Al-4V porous scaffolds and Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr scaffolds using SLM technology, and then tested their mechanical properties and material characterization. Finally, we compared their osteogenic activity and osteointegration ability by cell culture.
In cell proliferation and adhesion experiments, ccK-8 analysis method was used to evaluate the proliferation of cells implanted on the scaffold. The results showed that the number of cells in the porous Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr alloy group and the porous Ti6Al4V group increased with the increase of culture time. The results showed that the scaffolds prepared by SLM had good biocompatibility. In semi-quantitative analysis, there was no significant difference in cell activity on the porous scaffold at day 1, but at day 3, 5 and 7, the cell activity in the Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr alloy group was significantly higher than that in the Ti6Al4V group.
Implants fixed in bone are designed to restore functional loss of bone, provide a bridge to repair bone defects or fractures, and have a wide range of clinical applications. The main properties these implants must possess are sufficient mechanical strength, excellent biocompatibility, and the ability to accelerate bone repair and integration. The results show that the porous Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr alloy scaffold prepared by SLM has the above advantages in the repair of bone defects in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, the new three-dimensional porous Ti-Ta-Nb-Zr alloy scaffolds can promote bone regeneration and bone integration better than the traditional three-dimensional porous Ti6Al4V scaffolds, and have a good development prospect in the field of orthopedic implants.
