Sharif Digital Repository

Bone scaffolds are combinations of several materials, for achieving suitable properties and usage for replacing with defected bone. In this study, TCP/Agarose scaffolds are fabricated by two different approaches. The first one is using polymer sponge and gel casting technique and the other one is using foaming agent in order to obtain scaffolds with same porosity. The results show that in spite of same structure and porosity, scaffolds have different mechanical properties due to their different morphologies. Compressive strength of the scaffolds which were fabricated using polymer sponge method is 2.25MPa and elastic modulus is 56.8MPa. After coating with Agarose, compressive strength... 

Since ancient time, healing patients suffering from bone deformities has been one of the most important challenges of physicians. In recent decades, by helping bio mechanic engineers external fixators has been used for this purpose. These fixators divided to parallel and series forms. One of the remarkable merit of parallel external fixators is their high maneuverability. These fixators usually have six degree of freedom, and follow the movement’s pattern of Stewart robots. In this project by studying different fixators which has been commercials, we present two conceptual models of these fixators which three and four legs are used for connecting the lower and upper plates, respectively. The... 

Bones adapt their form and structure to make an efficient use of their mass against the applied mechanical loads. So, it is not surprising to assume that the geometry and density distribution of a bone contains information about its loading history. The objective of this work was to develop a framework to simulate the bone remodeling procedure as a topology optimization process and then use this framework to develop a simple technique for estimating the dominant joint loads based on the bone’s density distribution.
At first, the remodeling equation was derived from the structural optimization task of minimizing the strain energy in each time step, using the level set method. Employment... 

In this research, we developed a drug release system of two biocompatible and biodegradable polymers and biocompatible ceramic nanoparticles. Hydrogels of sodium alginate (SA) were crosslinked using calcium chloride. The SA hydrogels were blended with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and mixed with hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAP) to make hydrogel nanocomposites in the form of microbeads as drug carriers. Ciprofloxacin was selected as a model antibiotic drug for treatment of bone infection. It was found that SA and PVP form hydrogen bonds and are miscible at whole range of concentrations. Indeed, the SA/PVP blends may be considered as interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs). HAP nanoparticles... 

The goal of fracture reduction in orthopedic surgery is to reposition the bone fragments in their anatomical orientation (alignment), and the fracture ends closed to each other (apposition). Reduction of long bone fractures is became an interesting subject in the field of robotic aided surgery in pervious decade. Nowadays reduction of femur is carried out by surgeons and medical staff in surgery. Due to the large holding forces necessary, exact positioning is difficult and time consuming. What is needed is an automated system whereby the fractured ends of the bone may be precisely positioned without the need for multiple docking attempts. The fragments need to be held in place as long as... 

During femur fracture reduction surgery, both patients and surgeons are exposed to a great amount of radiation, which is harmful to their health. Computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) is a less invasive approach for its ability to reduce the usage of image intensifiers. Various robots have been developed for femur fracture reduction surgery. Most of these robots are based on serial architectures. Both low load-carrying capacity and poor accuracy are inherent to serial robots, which makes them inappropriate for femur fracture reduction. Some parallel robots using the “Stewart platform” have also been developed for femur fracture reduction, but their restricted workspace limits their... 

Fractures of the shaft of the long bones-especially in femur and tibia- is one of the most common fractures. In past decades various methods have been suggested for induction, fixation and repair of these fractures. The main fixation method for shaft fractures of femur and tibia in adult patients is named “Intramedullary Nailing”. In this method, after inducing the fracture, the bone marrow is pulled out via a hole created in the proximal part of the bone. Then, a nail will go down through this empty space inside the bone. This nail will be fixed in to proximal and distal parts of fractures with some locking screws. This way, the part of fracture cannot move respect to each other and the... 

Interconnected–pore titanium scaffolds were fabricated by sintering of compressed mixture of TiH1.924 and urea or NaCl. Urea was removed by evaporation during sintering and NaCl was removed with water. TiH1.924 was used to enhance gas evolution for perpetuation of foam formation. Morphological studies of the spacer-removed scaffolds showed that the spacer shapes were replicated to the pores. Minimization of stress concentration at walls of the pores was, hence, helped by utilization of the spacers with spherical particles. The scaffolds having relative densities of 0.34 to 0.65 consisted pores of 200 to 600 μm diameter, compression strengths of 51 to 260 MPa, Young’s modulus of 6.3 to 22.66... 

Tissue regeneration by bio-compatible/degradable scaffolds is one of the widely used approaches in the field of tissue engineering. In this study, a thermoplastic starch based nanocomposite scaffold with gradient structure was fabricated by unidirectional freeze drying method. To increase the stability of the scaffold in the aqueous media, PVA was added to starch solution. Then, the PVA and starch molecules were cross-linked by adding citric acid to the mixture. On the one hand, to improve the mechanical properties of the scaffold, and control its bio-degradability on the other, cellulose nano-fibers were employed. Also, the bioactivity of the scaffold was induced by using hydroxyapatite... 

This project aimed to fabricate the bone scaffolds with applying thermoplastic starch-based nano-biocomposites. The starting materials for this scaffold are as follows: thermoplastic starch, ethylene vinyl alcohol as the polymer matrix and nanoforsterite as the ceramic reinforcing phase. Furthermore, vitamin E was used as antioxidant for preserving starch against thermo-mechanical degradations. Likewise, 3D pore structure was developed using azo-dicarbonamide and water in injection moulding process. With blending thermoplastic starch and ethylene vinyl alcohol, some thermoplastic starch’s properties including degradation rate and water absorption were modified. In addition, having... 

Motorized intramedullary nails are a viable solution to treat patients with limb-length inequality. These fully implanted devices use external magnetic actuation to extend. This research examines the conceptual design of this type of nails by investigating various ideas and previous designs. The implant mechanism, body and controller are designed in detail. It was then simulated in standard tests to evaluate it. In addition, the implanted nail undergoes a biomechanical analysis and its stiffness is assessed. Finally, the controller design is carried out using dipole magnetic theory and verified by finite element simulations. As a proof of concept, we made a prototype that is twice the size... 

PMMA bone cement lacks biodegradability and the ability to bond with surrounding bone tissue. Therefore, the development of a new generation of bioactive bone cements that are biodegradable and possess adequate mechanical properties as well as desirable setting time is receiving remarkable interest.In this study, we have developed novel mineral-based bioactive bone cements. Our mineral bioactive bone cements were composed of Calcium Sulfate Hemihydrate, Bioactive Glass, and Tricalcium Silicate. Firstly, a binary system composed of Calcium Sulfate Hemihydrate and Bioactive Glass was optimized based on mechanical and setting behavior. Secondly, Tricalcium Silicate was added to the powder phase... 

Hydroxyapatite is the most substantial inorganic constituent of bone tissue which displays splendid biocompability and bioactivity. Nevertheless, its mechanical properties is not utmost appropriate for a bone substitutes. Therefore, it is used to improve the mechanical properties of polymer matrix composite scaffolds. In the present work polycaprolactone as a polymeric matrix was employed to fabricate hydroxyapatite-polycaprolactone biocomposite scaffolds via in situ route. Solvothermal method was employed to synthesize in situ hydroxyapatite in polymer matrix. Porous scaffolds were fabricated via freeze-drying/porogen leaching. Physical, mechanical (compressive module and compressive... 

BASHTI is a new implant-less ACL reconstruction surgery which has recently been considered for its advantages. This study aimed to investigate the effects of tendon and cannulated drill bit diameter on the BASHTI fixation strength and core bone engaged length (CBEL) in an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. It is believed that CBEL may affect both bone healing process and fixation strength in this technique. Bovine digital tendons and Sawbones blocks were used to mimic the ACL reconstruction. Tendons were sized to 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 mm and the hole size for the 6-9 mm tendons was set to 10 mm while for the 10 mm tendon was set to 12 mm. Mechanical strength of the specimens was... 

In recent years, many studies have conducted research about stem cells due to their prominent features such as proliferation and differentiation. By changing the specific parameters of the cellular micro-environment, it is possible to determine the stem cells fate and thereby use them in medical affairs. For this purpose, various devices and methods have been designeds such as microfluidic devices and scaffolds. The microfluidic devices has been especially focuced in the researchs due to their unique features, like the possibility of testing with small amounts of samples, the creation and control of low cost cellular micro-environment and low practical time. Two-dimensional scaffolds made up... 

This project evaluates the feasibility of using waste salmon fish bones as the reusable and low cost solid catalyst support for synthesis of biodiesel from waste sunflower oil via transestrification method. Calcinated waste fish bone derived hydroxyapatite (HAP) was employed as the supporter for KOH & K2CO3 to prepare an efficient solid base catalyst for biodiesel production. The catalyst were characterized by SEM-EDS, XRD, FTIR, BET, TGA, ICP. The effects of catalyst preparation conditions (such as fish bone and KOH or K2CO3 calcination temperature, loading of KOH or K2CO3 on the support), reaction conditions (such as reaction time, methanol/oil molar ratio, reaction temperature and... 

This work describes the effect of hydroxyapatite with different morphology including nanorods and whisker on the properties of hydroxyapatite/polycaprolactone (HA/PCL) composite. Biodegradable polymer/Hydroxyapatite (HA) composites with the morphology of nanorods and whisker of (HA) as bone replacement scaffolds are synthesized by sol-gel and hydrothermal methods, respectively with a Ca/P ratio of 1.67 and 20:80 (HA/PCL).The crystallization behavior and porosity of HA/PCL composite are studied by scanning electron microscope and X-Ray diffraction. The response of bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in terms of cell proliferation and differentiation to the osteoblastic... 

This investigation presents synthesis and characterization of pure and monophasic hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2; HA) Nanostructures prepared by coral and oyster shell powders heated at 800 oC for 8 h as precursor via precipitation method. The morphology of HA nanostructures was controlled in the presence of various surfactants such as SDS, CTAB and PVP. The HA Nanorods synthesized by SDS were applied to fabricate bone scaffolds. Particle sizes of the HA Nanoparticles were about 20-30 nm. Pours three-dimensional HA/Ge/CMC scaffolds cross-linked by citric and oxalic acids were synthesized. In order to increase the pore size of the scaffolds, NaCl with medium (180-250 µm) and large (420-500... 

Successful treatment of bone infections is a major orthopedic challenge due to the physiological and anatomical features of bone. In this project, we prepared a drug delivery system with injectable and biodegradable polysaccharide agar containing alginate, polyvinyl alcohol and hydroxyapatite nanocarriers composite microspheres. Alginate and polyvinyl alcohol composite microspheres are crosslinked by calcium and freeze-thawing technique. Using the freeze thawing process for polyvinyl alcohol crosslinking, in addition to alginate crosslinking, improved hydrogel swelling behavior and enhanced drug loading and thus slowed drug release, drug loading increased with increasing PVA percentage from ... 

Present study demonstrated carbon nanoparticles/acrylate-terminated polyurethane composites as promising materials for bone implants applications. Neat polymer and composites containing nanoparticles at different loadings up to 2 wt % were prepared by in situ polymerization method. Morphological analysis exhibited that nanoparticles caused considerable phase separation between soft and hard domains as well as increased crystallinity. Mechanical analysis showed a significant improvement in mechanical properties. Maximum improvement in tensile properties of APUA was observed at 1 wt% loading of ND-HEAMs, namely 175% improvement in modulus. In vitro biocompatibility evaluation via culturing...