A Comparative Study of Marine and Bovine Collagen within an Injectable Calcium Phosphate Cement

摘要

Vertebroplasty is a procedure which restores fractured vertebral bodies via the injection of bone cement through a cannulated needle. Due to the brittle nature and insufficient mechanical stability of calcium phosphate cements (CPCs), they have not been used for the treatment of traumatic vertebral fractures, for example burst fractures. Mechanical stability of human bone is provided by a complex interaction of type I collagen fibres and hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals m. This natural composite therefore provides excellent mechanical properties, better than would be achieved by the individual components. Replication of the composition of bone could therefore provide a superior CPC and potentially treat burst fractures. The application of collagen has mainly been used in the area of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, where bovine collagen is the primary source. However, there is a concern that this source of collagen could increase the risk of diseases and hence alternatives like that of marine derived collagen have been highlighted. With this in mind, this study aims to incorporate collagen, from marine and bovine sources, into a CPC system to compare the material properties.