3D porous architecture of stacks of β-TCP granules compared with that of trabecular bone: A microCT, vector analysis, and compression study

Abstract

The 3D arrangement of porous granular biomaterials usable to fill bone defects has received little study. Granular biomaterials occupy 3D space when packed together in a manner that creates a porosity suitable for the invasion of vascular and bone cells. Granules of beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) were prepared with either 12.5 or 25 g of β-TCP powder in the same volume of slurry. When the granules were placed in a test tube, this produced 3D stacks with a high (HP) or low porosity (LP), respectively. Stacks of granules mimic the filling of a bone defect by a surgeon. The aim of this study was to compare the porosity of stacks of β-TCP granules with that of cores of trabecular bone. Biomechanical compression tests were done on the granules stacks. Bone cylinders were prepared from calf tibia plateau, constituted high-density (HD) blocks. Low-density (LD) blocks were harvested from aged cadaver tibias. Microcomputed tomography was used on the β-TCP granule stacks and the trabecular bone cores to determine porosity and specific surface. A vector-projection algorithm was used to image porosity employing a frontal plane image, which was constructed line by line from all images of a microCT stack. Stacks of HP granules had porosity (75.3 ± 0.4%) and fractal lacunarity (0.043 ± 0.007) intermediate between that of HD (respectively 69.1 ± 6.4%, p < 0.05 and 0.087 ± 0.045, p < 0.05) and LD bones (respectively 88.8 ± 1.57% and 0.037 ± 0.014), but exhibited a higher surface density (5.56 ± 0.11 mm2/mm3 vs. 2.06 ± 0.26 for LD, p < 0.05). LP granular arrangements created large pores coexisting with dense areas of material. Frontal plane analysis evidenced a more regular arrangement of β-TCP granules than bone trabecule. Stacks of HP granules represent a scaffold that resembles trabecular bone in its porous microarchitecture.