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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

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01-02-2012 | Symposium: Papers Presented at the Annual Meetings of The Hip Society

The John Charnley Award: An Accurate and Sensitive Method to Separate, Display, and Characterize Wear Debris: Part 1: Polyethylene Particles

Authors: Fabrizio Billi, PhD, Paul Benya, PhD, Aaron Kavanaugh, BS, John Adams, MD, PhD, Edward Ebramzadeh, PhD, Harry McKellop, PhD

Published in: Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® | Issue 2/2012

Abstract

Background

Numerous studies indicate highly crosslinked polyethylenes reduce the wear debris volume generated by hip arthroplasty acetabular liners. This, in turns, requires new methods to isolate and characterize them.

Questions/purposes

We describe a method for extracting polyethylene wear particles from bovine serum typically used in wear tests and for characterizing their size, distribution, and morphology.

Methods

Serum proteins were completely digested using an optimized enzymatic digestion method that prevented the loss of the smallest particles and minimized their clumping. Density-gradient ultracentrifugation was designed to remove contaminants and recover the particles without filtration, depositing them directly onto a silicon wafer. This provided uniform distribution of the particles and high contrast against the background, facilitating accurate, automated, morphometric image analysis. The accuracy and precision of the new protocol were assessed by recovering and characterizing particles from wear tests of three types of polyethylene acetabular cups (no crosslinking and 5 Mrads and 7.5 Mrads of gamma irradiation crosslinking).

Results

The new method demonstrated important differences in the particle size distributions and morphologic parameters among the three types of polyethylene that could not be detected using prior isolation methods.

Conclusion

The new protocol overcomes a number of limitations, such as loss of nanometer-sized particles and artifactual clumping, among others.

Clinical Relevance

The analysis of polyethylene wear particles produced in joint simulator wear tests of prosthetic joints is a key tool to identify the wear mechanisms that produce the particles and predict and evaluate their effects on periprosthetic tissues.

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Title: The John Charnley Award: An Accurate and Sensitive Method to Separate, Display, and Characterize Wear Debris: Part 1: Polyethylene Particles
Authors: Fabrizio Billi, PhD
Paul Benya, PhD
Aaron Kavanaugh, BS
John Adams, MD, PhD
Edward Ebramzadeh, PhD
Harry McKellop, PhD
Publication date: 01-02-2012
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® / Issue 2/2012
Print ISSN: 0009-921X
Electronic ISSN: 1528-1132
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-2057-x

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The John Charnley Award: An Accurate and Sensitive Method to Separate, Display, and Characterize Wear Debris: Part 1: Polyethylene Particles

Abstract

Background

Questions/purposes

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Clinical Relevance

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Questions/purposes

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Clinical Relevance

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