Introduction: Orthopedic implants are used in the case of major injuries and have enormous benefits for the healing process. However, implants have issues associated with them. The patient's body could reject the implant or the implant could have trouble attaching to the body. This could lead to inflammation and issues in healing. The objective of this project is to use silver nanoparticles on stainless steel orthopedic screws to improve bone growth to prevent issues with implants.
Materials and
Methods: Silver nanoparticles needed to be synthesized. They were made using Tazo chamomile tea mixed in distilled water and filtered. This was then combined in equal parts with a solution of silver nitrate. Stainless-steel orthopedic screws were placed in the silver nanoparticle solution to become coated. They were removed and placed in a beaker where model bone solution was added. The model bone solution was made with calcium nitrate and sodium carbonate.
Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: When placed in a model bone solution, both screws coated with silver nanoparticles and uncoated screws accumulated calcium. This meant that if placed in the human body prominent bone growth would be observed. There was no visible difference in calcium growth on the screws so scanning electron microscopy was used. The SEM images showed greater calcium growth on the nano-coated screws. Additional investigation will be needed to confirm that silver nanoparticles lead to an increased calcium accumulation. However, given that calcium does accumulate on these screws allows further research.
