Assessment of natural and synthetic wollastonite as source for bioceramics preparation.

Pseudowollastonite ceramics (beta-CaSiO3) from synthetic and natural sources were assessed with regard to their properties relevant to biomedical applications. Synthetic and natural CaSiO3 powders, with average particle size of 1.6 and 13.2 microm, respectively, were first employed. Powders were pressed and sintered at 1400 degrees C for 2 h. Pseudowollastonite was the only crystalline phase in sintered materials. Glassy phase, eight times more abundant in sintered natural wollastonite (SNW) than in the synthetic one (SSW), was observed in grain boundaries and in triple points. Larger grains and bigger and more abundant pores were present in SNW, resulting in lower diametral tensile strength (26 MPa), than in SSW (42 MPa). However, by milling the natural wollastonite starting powder to a particle size of 2.0 microm and sintering (SNW-M), the microstructure became finer and less porous, and diametral tensile strength increased (48 MPa). Weibull modulus of SNW and SNW-M samples was twice that of the SSW. All the samples released Si and Ca ions, and removed phosphate ions from simulated body fluid in similar amounts and were completely coated by apatite-like spherules after soaking in simulated body fluid for 3 wk. The aqueous extracts from all samples studied were not cytotoxic in a culture of human fibroblastic cells. No differences in fibroblast-like human cells adhesion and proliferation were observed between samples. According to the obtained results, properly processed pseudowollastonite bioceramics, obtained from the natural source, exhibit the same in vitro behavior and better performance in terms of strength and reliability than do the more expensive synthetic materials.

[The effects of a benzopyrone derivative in experimental brain edema due to cold in the rabbit]. / Efectos de un derivado benzopirónico en el edema cerebral experimental por frío en el conejo.

On this study, parenchymal changes during a cerebral edema caused by thermic injury (cool) on the rabbit, are analyzed. The work was based on the ultrastructural findings obtained by transmission electronic microscopy and on the effects produced by a benzopironic derived (F-117 Hydrosmina). The injury was produced with solid CO2, previous a craniectomy, on the dura mater of the left hemisphere. Forty rabbits were included into the study, the animals were distributed into five groups (n = 8): a control group and 4 treatment groups. One of the groups received treatment without previous cerebral injury. The group of rabbits with doses of 50 mg/Kg of weight showed focal and diffuse areas of edema alternating with less damaged areas, the edema was evident on the white substance. This group also showed a dissociation of the myelinic fibers and an intracytoplasmatic tumefaction into the glial cells. These findings contrast with the histopathological findings obtained from the rabbits (V), the extracellular edema was poor, the myelinic fiber disorganization was minimal with no vacuolar degeneration and no structural mitochondrial changes had been showed. The discontinuance of the hematoencephalic barrier caused by the cool could be a possible mechanism that causes the opening of the endothelial unions from the capillary vessels, changing their membranes and resulting in a free penetration of the molecule into the cerebral parenchyma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)