Long-term variations in mechanical properties and in vivo degradability of CPC/PLGA composite

A new type of bone cement composite was successfully achieved by mixing degradable biosecure polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) fibers with high initial strength calcium phosphate cement (CPC). Its higher initial strength was mainly responsible for the in situ reinforcing effect of residual tetra-calcium phosphate monoxide (r-TTCP) particles reported in our previous work. So this bone cement composite containing fibers and the controlling group could be termed as CPC/PLGA composite and pure CPC or fiber-free group, respectively. In this study, we had investigated mechanical properties and microstructures of the CPC/PLGA composite immersed in 0.9% saline solution for different time and its in vivo degradation behaviors after implanting in rabbit muscle and femur bone, respectively. Results showed that the incorporation of the degradable fibers not only greatly increased the initial toughness and flexural strength of the CPC/PLGA composite but also significantly improved its later osteo-conduction as well as degradation rate. The rabbit muscle implant tests showed that the weight loss ratio of the CPC/PLGA composite increased by 41.03% as compared to the pure CPC. And the rabbit femur implant tests showed that the composite exhibits outstanding biocompatibility and bioactivity and more excellent osteoconduction and degradability than the pure CPC. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.