Determination of Ca, P, Sr and Mg in the synthetic biomaterial aragonite by NAA

In orthopaedic surgery, synthetic biomaterials encountered a great success. In this work, the “in-vivo” behaviour of aragonite synthesized in our laboratory was studied. The in vivo experiments have been carried out on femurs sites of nine ovine. Neutron activation analysis was applied to evaluate the ossification kinetics of synthetic aragonite. The content of several elements (Ca, P, Sr and Mg and phosphorous to calcium ratio) were determined versus time after implantation. Results showed that the biomaterial undergoes a lot of transformations during time. The chemical composition of the aragonite was modified and progress to become close to that of an ovine bone. Biological studies assess its biocompatibility.