Evaluation of plasma-spray and magnetron-sputter Ca-P-coated implants: an in vivo experiment using rabbits

The bone response to different plasma-spray and magnetron-sputter calcium phosphate (Ca-P)-coated implants was evaluated in a rabbit animal model. Four types of Ca-P coatings have been investigated: a plasma-spray Ca-P coating (HA-PS), a heat-treated plasma-spray Ca-P coating (HA-PS/ht), an amorphous magnetron-sputter coating (Ca-P-a), and a crystalline magnetron-sputter coating (CA-P-c). Seventy-two specially designed cylindrical implants were inserted in the lateral and medial femoral condyles of 18 New Zealand White rabbits. The four differently coated implants were positioned in one animal according to a split-plot design. After implantation periods of 3, 6, and 9 weeks, the bone-implant interface was evaluated histologically. Besides descriptive light microscopical evaluation, quantitative histomorphometrical measurements were done to determine bone contact and the amount of bone surrounding the implant-bone interface. Light microscopical examination revealed that all types of coatings followed the same process of bone healing. Measurements of bone contact at 6 and 9 weeks did not reveal significant differences between the various coatings. For the amount of bone, in a circular region at a certain distance from the implant, the Ca-P-c-coated implants showed a significantly greater amount of bone after 6 weeks of implantation than did the other three Ca-P coatings. At 9 weeks this difference could no longer be measured. On the basis of these findings we concluded that magnetron-sputtered Ca-P coatings show the same process of bone healing as the plasma-sprayed Ca-P coatings when inserted into the trabecular femoral bone of rabbits.