Prostheses made of nanoporous polyethylene lack only funding
Specialists from the A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences have obtained a fundamentally new result – they found that closed pores of 5-15 nm in size, which contain a residual amount of CO2, are formed in the particles of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene powder when it is processed in supercritical carbon dioxide. Thanks to this discovery, scientists have created three types of biocompatible self-lubricating materials: nanoporous ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene itself, a metal-polymer composite based on it with silver and gold nanoparticles, and a polymer-polymer composite with an acrylic polymer. All of them are good for the manufacture of joint endoprostheses, since they all showed a much lower coefficient of friction – half that of a material made on the basis of conventional ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. And the polymer-polymer composite demonstrated the same coefficient as natural cartilage; it was also half as much as when metal rubbed against cartilage.
The results of their scientific and technological significance have no analogues in the world. It should be noted that the manufacturing technology of the new material is environmentally impeccable, since it uses carbon dioxide. This is what is called "green chemistry" today.
The most promising is the use of new materials in the manufacture of hip prostheses, the need for which is 300 thousand per year in Russia. In the next two years, if funding is available, it is possible to organize the production and start of clinical use of endoprostheses made of new materials in maxillofacial surgery.
The work was carried out with the support of Rosnauki (within the framework of the Federal Target Program "Research and development in priority areas of development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia for 2007-2012").
Sergey Viktorovich Ryabchuk, Press Secretary,
State Directorate of the Target Scientific and Technical Program,
T. (495)642-00-70, ext. 1022, 8(903)217-60-95, ryabchuk1@yandex.ru.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru20.04.2010