@phdthesis{Holzmeister2023,
  author    = {Holzmeister, Ib},
  title     = {Branched silica precursors as additives for mineral bone cements},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-27504},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-275044},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Mineral biocements are brittle materials, which usually results in catastrophic failure during mechanical loading. Here, previous works demonstrated the feasibility of reducing brittleness by a dual-setting approach, in which a silica sol was simultaneously gelled during the setting of a brushite forming cement. The current thesis aimed at further improving this concept by both using a novel silicate based cement matrix for an enhanced bonding between cement and silica matrix as well as multifunctional silica precursors to increase the network density of the gel. Due to its well-known biocompatibility and osteogenic regeneration capacity, baghdadite was chosen as mineral component of such composites. This required in a first approach the conversion of baghdadite ceramics into self-setting cement formulations. This was investigated initially by using baghdadite as reactive filler in a brushite forming cement (Chapter 4). Here, the ß-TCP component in a equimolar mixture of ß-TCP and acidic monocalcium phosphate anhydrous was subsequently replaced by baghdadite at various concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50, and 100 wt\%) to study the influence on physicochemical cement properties such as mechanical performance, radiopacity, phase composition and microstructure. X-ray diffraction profiles demonstrated the dissolution of baghdadite during the cement reaction without affecting the crystal structure of the precipitated brushite phase. In addition, EDX analysis showed that calcium is homogeneously distributed in the cement matrix, while zirconium and silicon form cluster-like aggregates ranging in size from a few micrometers to more than 50 µm. X-ray images and µ-CT analyses indicate improved X-ray visibility with increased incorporation of baghdadite in brushite cement, with an aluminum equivalent thickness nearly doubling at a baghdadite content of 50 wt\%. At the same time, the compressive strength of brushite cement increased from 12.9 ± 3.1 MPa to 21.1 ± 4.1 MPa at a baghdadite content of 10 wt\%. Cell culture medium conditioned with powdered brushite cement approached physiological pH values when increasing amounts of baghdadite were added to the cement (pH = 6.47 for pure brushite, pH = 7.02 for brushite with 20 wt\% baghdadite substitution). Baghdadite substitution also affected the ion content in the culture medium and thus the proliferation activity of primary human osteoblasts in vitro. The results demonstrated for the first time the suitability of baghdadite as a reactive cement additive for improving the radiopacity, mechanical performance, and cytocompatibility of brushite cements. A second approach (Chapter 5) aimed to produce single component baghdadite cements by an increase of baghdadite solubility to initiate a self-setting cement reaction. For this, the material was mechanically activated by longer grinding times of up to 24h leading to both a decrease in particle and crystallite size as well as a partial amorphization of baghdadite. Baghdadite cements were formed by adding water at a powder to liquid ratio of 2.0 g/ml. Maximum compressive strengths were determined to be ~2 MPa after 3 days of setting for a 24-hour ground material. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements showed an incongruent dissolution profile of the set cements, with preferential dissolution of calcium and only minor release of zirconium ions. Cement formation occurs under alkaline conditions, with the unground raw powder resulting in a pH of 11.9 during setting, while prolonged grinding increases the pH to about 12.3. Finally, mechanically activated baghdadite cements were combined with inorganic silica networks (Chapter 6) to create dual-setting cements with a further improvement of mechanical performance. While a modification of the cement pastes with a TEOS derived sol was already thought to improve strength, it was hypothesized that using multi-arm silica precursors can further enhance their mechanical performance due to a higher network density. In addition, this should also reduce pore size of both gels and cement and hence will be able to adjust the release kinetics of incorporated drugs. For this, multi-armed silica precursors were synthesized by the reaction of various multivalent alcohols (ethylene glycol, glycerine, pentaerythrit) with an isocyanate modified silica precursor. After hydrolysis under acidic conditions, the sols were mixed with baghdadite cement powders in order to allow a simultaneous gel formation and cement setting. Since the silica monomers have a high degree of linkage sites, this resulted in a branched network that interpenetrated with the growing cement crystals. In addition to minor changes in the crystalline phase composition as determined by X-ray diffraction, the novel composites exhibited improved mechanical properties with up to 20 times higher compressive strength and further benefit from an about 50\% lower overall porosity than the reference pure baghdadite cement. In addition, the initial burst release of the model drug vancomycin was completely inhibited by the added silica matrix. This observation was verified by testing for the antimicrobial activity with Staphylococcus aureus by measuring the inhibition zones of selected samples after 24 h and 48 h, whereas the antimicrobial effectiveness of a constant vancomycin release could be demonstrated. The current thesis clearly demonstrated the high potential of baghdadite as a cement formulation for medical application. The initially poor mechanical properties of such cements can be overcome by special processing techniques or by combination with silica networks. The achieved mechanical performance is > 10 MPa and hence suitable for bone replacement under non-load bearing conditions. The high intrinsic radiopacity as well as the alkaline pH during setting may open the way ahead to further dental applications, e.g. as root canal sealers or filler in dental composites. Here, the high pH is thought to lead to antimicrobial properties of such materials similar to commonly applied calcium hydroxide or calcium silicates, however combined with an intrinsic radiopacity for X-ray imaging. This would simplify such formulations to single component materials which are less susceptible to demixing processes during transport, storage or processing.},
  subject      = {Zement},
  language  = {en}
}