Fracture bone healing and biodegradation of AZ31 implant in rats

The ideal temporary implant should offer enough mechanical support to allow healing of the fracture and then biodegrade and be resorbed by metabolic mechanisms without causing any toxic effect. The aim of this research has been to simultaneously study in situ bone healing and the biodegradation of AZ31 Mg alloy as an osteosynthesis material. The in vivo study was carried out in AZ31 implants with and without Mg-fluoride coating inserted in un-fractured and fractured femurs of Wistar rats for long experimentation time, from 1 to 13 months, by means of computed tomography, histological and histomorphometric analysis. Tomography analysis showed the bone healing and biodegradation of AZ31 implants. The fracture is healed in 100% of the animals, and AZ31 maintains its mechanical integrity throughout the healing process. Biodegradation was monitored, quantifying the evolution of gas over time by 3D composition of tomography images. In all the studied groups, gas pockets disappear with time as a result of the diffusion process through soft tissues. Histomorphometric studies reveal that after 13 months the 46.32% of AZ31 alloy has been resorbed. The resorption of the coated and uncoated AZ31 implants inserted in fractured femurs after 1, 9 and 13 months does not have statistically significant differences. There is a balance between the biodegradation of AZ31 and bone healing which allows the use of AZ31 to be proposed as an osteosynthesis material.