BIOCOMPATIBILITY OF SILICON-CARBIDE IN COLONY FORMATION TEST IN-VITRO- A PROMISING NEW CERAMIC THR IMPLANT COATING MATERIAL

We studied the possible use of silicon carbide (SIC) as a ceramic coat ing material of titanium-based total hip replacement (THR) implants. T he idea is to prevent wear debris formation from the soft titanium sur face. SiC is a hard and tightly bonding ceramic surface material, and because of these physical properties it is not easily degradable, as i s the case with hydroxyapatite. Our previous in vivo and in vitro stud ies have indicated that SiC and hydroxyapatite are equally biocompatib le regarding particle size for phagocytosis. The present cytotoxicity test using JCRB0603 cells showed that 5 mu m SiC particles inhibited c olony outgrowth by one-third (67% + 10% vs control), while SiC-coated pins did not cause any inhibition and acted similarly to uncoated tita nium pins. The results support the hypothesis that SiC is a promising ceramic THR implant coating material.