Qualitative interfacial study between bone and tantalum, niobium or commercially pure titanium.

Tantalum (Ta), niobium (Nb) and commercially pure titanium (c.p. Ti) were sputtered on to the surfaces of polycarbonate plastic implants. After 3 month of insertion, in the tibial metaphysis of rabbits, the implants were removed with a surrounding bone collar and processed for light (LM) and electron microscopy (EM). By EM a zone of ground substance tens of nanometers wide without collagen filaments was noticed surrounding the Ta implants. Multinucleated macrophages could occasionally be recognized in the interface zone. Foreign body reactions were more striking at the Nb interface while no multinucleated macrophages were observed in the c.p. Ti interface. The ground substance layer had a thickness in the range of 40-60 nm for the Nb implants, whereas in c.p. Ti sections the collagen filaments were noticed 20-40 nm from the metal surface. There are more subtle differences between tantalum and c.p. titanium than between c.p. titanium and niobium which seems to be less well tolerated when implanted in bone.