Influence of the activator in an acrylic bone cement on an array of cement properties

摘要

In all but one of the acrylic bone cement brandsudused in cemented arthroplasties, N,N-dimethyl-4-toluidineud(DMPT) serves as the activator of the polymerization reaction.udHowever, many concerns have been raised about this activator,udall related to its toxicity. Thus, various workers haveudassessed a number of alternative activators, with two examplesudbeing N,N-dimethylamino-4-benzyl laurate (DMAL) andudN,N-dimethylamino-4-benzyl oleate (DMAO). The results ofudlimited characterization of cements that contain DMAL orudDMAO have been reported in the literature. The presentudwork is a comprehensive comparison of cements that containudone of these three activators, in which the values of a largeudarray of their properties were determined. These propertiesudrange from the setting time and maximum exotherm temperatureudof the curing cement to the variation of the loss elasticudmodulus of the cured cement with frequency of the appliedudindenting force in dynamic nanoindentation tests. The presentudresults, taken in conjunction with those presented in previousudreports by the present authors and co-workers on other propertiesudof these cements, indicate that both DMAL and DMPTudare suitable alternatives to DMPT