Scope
Any materials used for or suitable for use in prostheses that come in direct contact with living tissues needs to be characterized for mechanical resistance including wear and for biocompatibility. The aim of the Particles and Ions Analysis – Biomaterials Characterization Laboratory (BPAL) is to characterize the biofunctionality and bioactivity of any materials used in orthopaedics.
One of the main research lines in the BPAL concern the evaluation of the degradation products of these materials. During the past decade, researchers have become increasingly aware that, in addition to the amount of wear occurring with an implant, the size and shape (i.e., the morphology) of the resultant wear particles are key factors that determine the nature and intensity of the reaction in the surrounding bone and tissues. The focus of the BPAL is to develop and apply reliable and efficient methods for recovering and characterizing the wear particles from the lubricants used in laboratory wear simulations and from the joint fluids, periarticular tissues and bone obtained during revision of failed prosthetic joints. Furthermore, the lab is capable of evaluating the metal ions content from metal containing prostheses, thus combining two powerful tools in the evaluation of degradation.
Research
In recent studies, the investigators of the BPAL have been able to develop a 1-step method that allows virtually all of the wear particles of different materials to be separated simultaneously from either peri-prosthetic tissues or in vitro wear simulator lubricants, using the same sample. Other advantages of the method include minimizing contamination and particle loss due to multiple steps and the ability to quantify and analyze the total amount of debris. The 1-step method provides a powerful tool for isolation of wear debris from multiple sources, allowing new types of characterization and quantification that have not been possible with previous methods.
Apparatus
Laminar Flow Cabinets, Vacuum Filtration System, Embedding System, Optical microscopes, Scanning electron microscope (Zeiss DSM960), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (Kevex Sigma), Microtone (LKB 8800 Ultratome III), Digital Acquisition System (MVIA, CM-DIG-LT-C), Image Analysis Software (Metamorph v. 6.0, Universal Imaging), Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (Varian, SpectraAA 220)
Staff
The Biomaterials and Particle Analysis Laboratory is under the
direction of Fabrizio Billi, Ph.D. and includes Paul Benya, Ph.D., Diana
Zarate, B.Sc. lab manager, and UCLA post-graduate student Andrew
Ghobrial.
Selected Publications
- McKellop, H., Campbell, P., Park, S.H., Schmalzried, T., Grigoris, P., Amstutz, H. and Sarmiento, A.: The origin of sub-micron polyethylene wear debris in total hip arthroplasty. (The John Charnley Award Paper), Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 311, 1-18, 1995
- Doorn, P. F., Campbell, P. A., Worrall, J., Benya, P. D., McKellop, H. A., Amstutz, H. C: Metal wear particle characterization from metal on metal total hip replacements: transmission electron microscopy study of periprosthetic tissues and isolated particles; J Biomed Mater Res, 42, 103-111, 1998
- Campbell, P., McKellop, H., Alim, R., Mirra, J., Nutt, S.,Dorr, L. D., Armstutz, H.C.: Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacements: Wear Performance and Cellular Response to Wear Particles. In “Cobalt Base Alloys for Biomedical Applications”, ASTM, STP 1365, 193-209, 1999
- F. Billi, S. Aust, E. Ebramzadeh: Backside Wear from polished Tibial Tray Porduces Higher Ratio of Submicron Particles; 8th EFORT Congress, Florence, Italy, May 11-15, 2007
- F.Billi, P. Benya, P. Campbell, W. McGarry, HA McKellop, E. Ebramzadeh: A novel Single-Step Method to Separate Multiple Types of Wear Debris from Tissue or Wear Simulator Lubricants; Society for Biomaterials 2007, Chicago, April 18-21, 2007
Contact
Fabrizio Billi, Ph.D., FBilli@laoh.ucla.edu, tel: (213) 742-1352
Continue: Cellular Reaction Laboratory
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Retrieved UHMW-PE debris
Researchers discussing particle analysis
Student at work in Particle Analysis and Biomaterials Laboratory
Retrieved metal debris
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