NOVEL HYDROXYAPATITE-LOADED BIODHESIVES FOR FIXATION OF SMALL BONE FRAGMENTS

Interest in hard tissue adhesives as alternatives for conventional bone fixation applications has increased in recent decades as a result of numerous advantages such as better comfort and lower cost. An adhesive would provide a simple and quick method of fixing small bone fragments that are difficult to fix by conventional means. In spite of the clear medical necessity, there is no hard tissue adhesive product that is available for clinical use to date. A novel bioadhesive based on the natural polymers Gelatin and Alginate, cross linked with Carbodiimide has recently been developed by our group. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a bioactive ceramic known for its ability to enhance bone regeneration. In the current study, our thought was that reinforcement of the adhesive by HA would be beneficial to the field of hard tissue adhesives. The incorporation of micro and nano HA particles was found to improve the bonding strength to hard tissue (Figure 1). We also showed that the bonding strength of our adhesive to hard tissue is much higher than that obtained to soft tissue. Good Cytotoxicity results were obtained. The studied bioadhesive formulations were not found to have a toxic effect on human cultured osteoblasts. Overall, the adhesives filled with HA that were investigated in this research have shown a promising potential for fixing small bone fragments.