Market Overview:
These artificial implant materials are functionalized with self-regenerating antioxidants which prevent implant degradation. Artificial implants are becoming increasingly popular, with 2 in every 100 Americans having an artificial joint and over 7 million living with total hip or knee replacement. When artificial implants come in contact with the biological tissue, this can trigger an immune response called foreign body reaction (FBR) which results in chemical and mechanical degradation of artificial implants and ultimately implant failure. One method to mitigate the immune response is coating implants with antioxidants to prevent the FBR. However, once traditional antioxidants degrade oxidizing radicals non-catalytically, they are consumed by the reaction. Artificial materials functionalized with traditional antioxidants will lose the ability to protect against FBR and subsequent implant failure, creating the need for long-term protection of artificial implants against FBR. To meet this need, Clemson University researchers have developed artificial implant materials functionalized with antioxidant catalysts that degrade oxidizing radicals and prevent implant degradation by FBR. This approach will improve the function and lifetime of implants while decreasing the need for revision surgeries.
Application Stage of Development
Artificial implant coatings Preliminary proof-of-concept
Advantages
• Extends life and function of artificial implants, decreasing need for implant replacement
• Uses materials that degrade reactive oxygen species before they trigger immune response,
protecting implant function and eliminating major cause of implant failure
• Reduces number and severity of side-effects, decreasing costs associated with immune
response complications and revision surgeries
Technical Summary
Existing antioxidants react stoichiometrically with damaging oxidants and are irreversibly consumed, which results in depletion of antioxidant capacity over time and concomitant loss of protection against foreign body reaction. Researchers at Clemson University have developed organic and inorganic artificial implant materials functionalized with self-regenerating antioxidant catalysts that catalytically degrade reactive oxygen species under physiologically relevant conditions to prevent implant degradation via FBR. Preliminary studies suggest that ruthenium complexes with heterocyclic ligands catalyze the degradation and slow the formation of radicals in aqueous buffer and can be covalently integrated into organic polymer architectures with retention of catalytic activity.
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Inventors: Andrew Tennyson, Yamin Htet, Anshuman Mangalum
Patent Type: Utility, Provisional
Serial Number: 14/955,936; 62/085,862
CURF Reference: 2015-023