Implants, artificial

CBPCs may have an important role even in the production of artificial implants. Typically, one may exploit rapid-prototyping to produce exact shapes of the implants. From a practical standpoint, formation of a ceramic out of a paste would appear to be most suitable for rapid-prototyping processes [11]. Thus, coupling CBPC with rapidprototyping should lead to artificial body parts that not only match the namral bones in their composition, but in structure as well. The science of CBPCs paves the way for their use not only as dental cements and bioceramics for the 21st century, but as discussed in earlier chapters, many other applications as well. 

Surface-bound, neutral, hydrophilic polymers such as polyethers and polysaccharides dramatically reduce protein adsorption [26-28], The passivity of these surfaces has been attributed to steric repulsion, bound water, high polymer mobility, and excluded volume effects, all of which render adsorption unfavorable. Consequently, these polymer modified surfaces have proven useful as biomaterials. Specific applications include artificial implants, intraocular and contact lenses, and catheters. Additionally, the inherent nondenaturing properties of these compounds has led to their use as effective tethers for affinity ligands, surface-bound biochemical assays, and biosensors. 

A recent review (4) considers a foreign body reaction induced in soft tissues by the presence of artificial implants to be a chronic inflammatory response it was noted specifically that denaturation of proteins at the surface of the implanted material may evoke an immunologic response. This possibility has already been examined experimentally with respect to materials in contact with blood. Stern and co-workers (5) reasoned as follows ... 

Funakubo et al. used a CFD model to evaluate 10 artificial implantable lungs [64]. Their research focused on the occurrence of thrombogenesis. They built a prototype to verify their CFD predictions. They found a correlation between predicted areas of low flow and thrombus formation. Further although nearly identical low flow velocity conditions exist at both the inlet and outlet ports, thrombus formation occurs only near the outlet port, which agreed with detailed vectorial analysis. Gartner et al. also used a CFD approach to model flow effects on thrombotic deposition on a membrane BO [67]. 

Funakubo A, Taga I, McGillicuddy JW, Fukui Y, Hirschl RB, and Bartlett RH. Flow vectorial analysis in an artificial implantable lung. 

Keywords Artificial implants Biomaterials Electrospinning Extracellular matrix Growth factors Peripheral nerve Regeneration... 

From the description above we can deduce some functions that artificial implants must fulfill if they are to promote nerve regeneration in vivo. A general requirement of biocompatibility, which applies to materials implanted anywhere in the body, demands that the implanted construct must not induce inflammatory reactions or tumor formation and is not rejected or encapsulated by scar tissue. 

Since regeneration and physiological function of the restored nerve need the exchange of gases, water, and biological signals such as hormones or neurotrophins the artificial implant must be sufficiently permeable. On the other hand, osmotic... 

In conclusion, the chemical functionalization of synthetic materials with ECM molecules was an important step in the development of artificial implants with biological activities. Apart from these signals, which are always fixed to surfaces, peripheral nerve regeneration in vivo depends on a number of signals that are secreted from Schwann cells or the neurons themselves (Sect. 2.2). 

With the use of proteins and peptides derived from ECM, artificial implants can already mimic the signals that regenerating axons encounter in the environment of the lesioned PNS. However, the concept of targeted use of factors that specifically... 

Biocompatibility Acceptance of an artificial implant by the siurounding tissues and as a whole. The implant should be compatible with tissues in terms of mechanical, chemical, surface, and pharmacological properties. 

Microencapsulation and encapsulated products have found applications in numerous industries such as agriculture, chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industry over the last century. More recently, applications of these particles in biotechnology and medical processes, including cell encapsulation for artificial implants, production of high cell density cultures and recombinant therapeutic proteins encapsulation as a means for delivery, has opened up a brand new field for this technology. " ... 

Artificial implants made from biodegradable polymers have shown great potential in clinical treatment. Whilst biodegradable polymers have had successful applications in relatively simple medical devices such as absorbable sutures, there is still a large... 

Surgical procedures to replace blood vessels that have been damaged by, for example, rapture or thrombosis have been used for decades and are commonly referred to as vascular grafting. In the absence of natural implants, surgeons, researchers and industry have collaborated to develop textile-based artificial implants, vascular grafts, as a replacement for damaged (blood) vessels. 

Textile manufacturing techniques that can produce structures suitable for high load-bearing artificial implants are predominantly 3D weaving and braiding techniques. Those techniques exhibit the possibility to achieve the needed mechanical properties and can be successfully tailored and customised according to strength, abrasion... 

Artificial implants are structures that take over multiple tasks of damaged or missing tissue. They may replace the functionality (eg, vascular grafts or hip and knee prosthe-ses), ensure power transmission (eg, ligament or tendon replacements), or support connective tissue (eg, hernia meshes). 

Some poly [(organo)phosphazene] materials are of interest as biomedical polymers as non-interacting tissue replacement materials. Allcock examined the possibility of poly [(organo) phosphazenes] to be used as coating materials for artificial implants (Allcock et al, 1992). This coating materials should be able to enhance the antibacterial actiwty of the surface of implanted materials. 

Adsorption of proteins from solution onto synthetic materials is a key factor in the response of a living body to artificial implanted materials and devices. Adsorbed proteins mediate cell attachment and spreading through specific peptide sequence-integrin receptor interactions and may therefore favorably influence the mechanical stability of the subsequently developed tissue—implant interface. However, the uncontrolled nonspecific adsorption of proteins from the extracellular matrix results in interfaces with many types of proteins in different conformations—a situation that is believed to cause deleterious reactions of the body, such as foreign-body response and fibrous encapsulation. ... 

In this study, fluorescent labeling of albumin was used to investigate the adsorption of this protein onto the surfaces of artificial implant materials before and during tribological measurements. The la-... 

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