Biocompatibility of alendronate-loaded acrylic cement for vertebroplasty

This paper reports a biological evaluation of a non-resorbable acrylic cement loaded with alendronate for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. The cement formulation was based on polymethyl methacrylate and acrylic monomers; one of these had covalently linked vitamin E residues. The same cement in the absence of alendronate was used as a control. The setting of the charged cement presented a maximum polymerization temperature of 44oC, a setting time of 24 min, a residual monomer content lower than 3 wt.%, a compressive strength of 99±10 MPa and an elastic modulus of 1.2±0.2 GPa. Cytotoxicity studies using human osteoblast cultures revealed that the leachable substances of the alendronate loaded cement collected between 1 and 7 days decreased cell viability to values lower than 80%. However, morphological changes and cellular damage in cells produced by the extracts decreased with the leak time. Cell adhesion and growth on charged cement was significantly lower than on the control. Implantation of the cement paste in the intra-femoral cavity of rabbits showed that initially the osteogenic activity was evident for the cement charged with alendronate, and the osteosynthesis process took place mainly in the trabeculae and was manifested by the presence of a non-mineralised osseous spicule. The interface between material and adjacent bone tissue was initially characterized by a variable fibrous response that in many cases it appeared reduced to thin connective tissue after a 24-week-period.