ABSTRACT
To investigate the effect of entangled titanium fibre balls [ETFBs] combined with nano strontium hydroxyapatite [nano-Sr-HAP] on the repair of bone defects in vivo. Twenty-four 6-month-old, specific pathogen-free, male Sprague-Dawley rats were used. Drill defects were created in bilateral femoral condyles. ETFBs combined with nano-Sr-HAP were selected randomly from 72 samples and implanted into the femoral bone defects of left legs, which served as the experimental group, while ETFBs without nano-Sr-HAP were implanted into right legs for comparison. The bone defects on both sides were Xrayed. The anteroposterior positions and histological procedures and evaluations of each sample were performed at 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks post-surgery. Histological results showed that the ETBs allowed new bone to grow within their structure. Additionally, an increase in new bone was seen on the nano-Sr-HAP side compared to the control side. The results of histomorphometric analysis confirmed that the new bone formation on the left side gradually increased with time. There was a statistical increase in new bone at 2, 4 and 8 weeks, and the differences between the two sides were statistically significant at weeks 4 and 8 [p < 0.05 for all comparisons]. The results showed that ETFBs possess a unique 3-dimensional interconnective porous structure and have excellent biocompatibility, cell affinity and osteoconductivity, which makes them useful as scaffold materials for repairing bone defects. On the other hand, nano- Sr-HAP improved the bone defect-repairing capacity of the ETFBs, which showed osteoinductive properties