Scientists at Northwestern University have developed a new type of plastic of 3D-printers that can be used to print flexible artificial bones. It does not cause immune response, self-filled cells and okostevaet naturally. Description of the new material was published in the journal Science.

Artificial bone material is based on two substances: mineral hydroxyapatite, which is present in these bones, providing rigidity and polycaprolactone polyester – a biocompatible polymer, already widely used in medicine. The polymer portion is only ten percent by weight of the new material, but this is enough to ensure its high elasticity. “Artificial bone” on the basis of the material can be stretched without breaking the structure of the 30-60 percent of the length.

In addition to flexibility, high porosity material obradaet – microvoids make up half of the “artificial bone”. This allows cells to penetrate into the internal structure of the material and colonize it, thus carrying out the regeneration. The artificial bones while there are blood vessels and begin to grow a real bone. Eventually polycaprolactone collapses to caproic acid, water and CO2, and only the mineral component and the patient’s own cells inside the implant.
Scientists have tested the new material on mice and rats. At last with the help of implants based on a new material, doctors tried to cure spinal fracture as a result was able to make even more efficient than using donor grafts (pieces of this bone, which is used as an implant). Separate material test was done on monkeys, who implanted the artificial bone of the new material instead of one of the skull fragments. According to the authors, in any case was not observed inflammation, or some other unwanted response from the immune system. Blood vessels penetrate well into the implants and their inhabited by living cells.

Such synthetic materials, which are implanted in place of the damaged organ and then colonized by the patient’s own cells, doctors call skeffoldami, t. E. Frameworks. Usually composed of mildew skeffoldov presentedin special factors to stimulate cell growth. Sometimes in the skeffolda add stem cells – this technology is investigated, but it is not applied in the clinic. In this case the poster material able to achieve a good healing even without the use of growth factors (such as BMP) and stem cells.

In the field of prosthetic bone main disadvantages of artificial skeffoldov are izlishnayaya fragility and an increased risk of inflammation. An alternative approach involves using the patient’s own bone tissue obtained from another body, but the technology is also not without serious flaws. It requires a complex operation that takes a long time, but does not always guarantee the result. Getting the artificial bone with help of 3D-printing is not only much easier, but also incomparably faster – creating iplantata, according to the authors, only takes about 5 hours.

At the moment of complete Safety talk technology can not, since it is only tested on animals, to the same observation time does not exceed a few weeks. However, all components of the system have been used in medicine and is not cause serious complications.