The effects of ultrasonic stimulation on DP-bioglass bone substitute

Abstract

In previous studies, DP-bioglass showed good biocompatibility and can form a chemical bond with natural bone. After implementation in the rabbit femur condyle for 32 weeks, DP-bioglass gradually biodegraded and osteocytes grew into the material. In this study, an attempt has been made to utilize low intensity pulsed ultrasound to speed up the bone regeneration rate and DP-bioglass absorption rate when the DP-bioglass is implanted into the rabbit femur condyle as a bone substitute. The fundamental parameters of the ultrasound used were 1.5 MHz frequency, 0.5 W cm-2 intensity, on-off ratio 1:1 and 2 ms for the on-off time interval. The stimulation, in all cases, was started 24 h after the operations by applying the transducer to the skin using DIR ultrasound jelly as a coupling medium. The evaluation of the progress of bone regeneration and the material's biodegradable rate were conducted by histological examination and by measurements of the areas of regenerated bone, pores and DP-bioglass made with a planimeter. It was found that low intensity pulsed ultrasound had a profound effect on the rate both of bone regeneration and DP-bioglass bioabsorption in this rabbit model and that its mechanism of the action may be via an electromechanical kinetic effect on the cell membrane interfaces.