BIOTECHNOLOGY: Aligned Nanotubes Could Improve Artificial Joints.

Nanoparticle News, February, 2005

Artificial joints might be improved by making implants out of carbon nanotubes and filaments that are all aligned in the same direction, mimicking the alignment of collagen fibers and natural ceramic crystals in real bones, according to a research team from Purdue University.

In recent studies, the Purdue scientists showed that aligned carbon nanofiber/nanotube arrays can be used to direct bone- forming cell morphology, which is important for the development of a novel biocompatible substrate that can regenerate bone.

The researchers already have shown in a series of experiments that bone cells in Petri dishes attach better to materials that possess smaller surface bumps than are found on the materials conventionally used to make artificial joints....

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