GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ask anyone who has a surgical pin in their body, and they likely will tell you they wish it would just go away.<\/p>\n
In the future, it just might, with help from research by Michele Manuel, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n
Manuel has developed a surgical pin made from magnesium and is working to control the rate at which the pin degrades in the body. In laboratory tests, the pin offers several advantages over the plastic and stainless steel or titanium pins currently used.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t always want to put in a metal implant and leave it there forever,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cThe idea with this pin is that it would dissolve over time, and after it\u2019s finished, your body is basically in the same state it was before you had an injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knows someone who has an implant in their body that they wish wasn\u2019t there,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cSurgical pins don\u2019t have to become permanent fixtures in the body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pin not only biodegrades but also aids healing. Magnesium builds bone, so it can function both as a pin and as a nutrient.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to have magnesium to live, and many people take magnesium supplements,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cSo this is a good orthopedic application. It\u2019s not only an implant that serves a medical need in terms of fixing bones, it\u2019s also serving a nutritional need as well, so that\u2019s why you see a lot of activity in the surrounding tissue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The use of magnesium isn\u2019t new, Manuel said. In the early 1800s, physicians experimented with magnesium implants but ran into problems because magnesium produces hydrogen as it breaks down, which creates hydrogen gas bubbles under the skin that are clearly visible. Doctors of the era tried to remove the hydrogen gas with syringes but eventually gave up until new, improved metals were developed.<\/p>\n
The trick to using magnesium, Manuel said, is controlling the rate at which it breaks down to give the body time to absorb the hydrogen.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour body can handle the hydrogen, just not in large doses, so pockets form,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cSo if we can slow down how fast the magnesium degrades so it releases hydrogen more slowly, the body would take up the hydrogen the way it would take up any other gas and release it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In lab tests, Manuel has compared the magnesium pin with clinical implant materials. Surgical pins are shaped like screws, so in addition to controlling the rate at which the magnesium breaks down, Manuel is trying to determine how much torque can be applied before the screw is stripped.<\/p>\n
In lab tests, the magnesium pin has been inserted into the tibia of rats. X-rays show the rate at which the magnesium pins dissolve, and at six weeks the new bone is indistinguishable from the bone before the break.<\/p>\n
Another use of the magnesium could be as a coating for an implant to promote bone growth.<\/p>\n
As Manuel\u2019s research continues, entrepreneurs at UF\u2019s Innovation Hub are keeping watch, with an eye toward bringing the technology to market.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who have sensitivity to metal or inflammation from a foreign material in the body could benefit from this,\u201d Manuel said. \u201cThere are a lot of different applications that could be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Ask anyone who has a surgical pin in their body, and they likely will tell you they wish it would just go away. In the future, it just might, with help from research by Michele Manuel, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Florida. Manuel has developed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[61,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-innovation","category-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n