RESEARCH ARTICLE
Freezing of Rat Tibiae at -20°C Does Not Affect the Mechanical Properties of Intramedullary Bone/Implant-Interface: Brief Report
Michael Diefenbeck*, 1, Thomas Mückley1, Sergiy Zankovych2, Jörg Bossert2, Klaus D Jandt2, Christian Schrader3, Jürgen Schmidt3, Ulrich Finger4, Mathilde Faucon4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 219
Last Page: 222
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-5-219
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001105010219
Article History:
Received Date: 19/2/2011Revision Received Date: 6/5/2011
Acceptance Date: 9/5/2011
Electronic publication date: 17/6/2011
Collection year: 2011

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background:
The effects of freezing-thawing cycles on intramedullary bone-implant interfaces have been studied in a rat model in mechanical pull-out tests.
Implants:
Twenty TiAl6V4 rods (Ø 0.8 mm, length 10 mm) implanted in rat tibiae
Methods:
10 rats underwent bilateral tibial implantation of titanium rods. At eight weeks, the animals were sacrificed and tibiae harvested for biomechanical testing. Eight tibiae were frozen and stored at -20°C for 14 days, the remaining eight were evaluated immediately post-harvest. Pull-out tests were used to determine maximum force and interfacial shear strength.
Results:
There were no significant differences between fresh and those of the frozen-thawed group in maximum force or in interfacial shear strength.
Conclusion:
Frozen Storage of rat tibiae containing implants at -20° C has no effects on the biomechanical properties of Bone/ Implant interface.