Study on the mechanical properties of porous bioceramics varied by bone tissue formation

Recent years, much attention has been paid to tissue engineering for bone regeneration. In current orthopedic titatments, artificial bone substitutes composed of bioactive ceramics are sometimes used instead of autograft and allograft to obtain bone tissue ingrowth in damaged regions. In this study, nonabsothable porous bioceramics was implanted into femur of rabbits to perform in vivo study of bone regeneration. Compression mechanical properties were then evaluated afier implantation for fixed periods up to 48weeks. 3D finite element models were also constructed using the ji-CT images taken afier implantation. Computational analysis was conducted under a compressive loading condition and the effects of bone tissue ingrowth on the mechanical properties of the bioceramics specimen at each stage. Both experimental and computational results clearly showed that compitssive modulus increased from 1 to 24weeks and then decreased up to 48 weeks. It is presumed that bone tissue was regenerated excessively for 12 weeks and then, bone tissue tried to keep a steady state condition by remodeling.