Alteration of hydroxylapatite coatings exposed to chemicals used in histological fixation

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Abstract
Histological evaluation of retrieved devices allows for assessment of the biological response to the implants. Interaction between the biomaterial and the fluids used in the processing may alter the appearance or composition of the device. This may result in artifacts due to processing which are misinterpreted as being caused by the biological response. Alteration by the fluids used in fixation may be particularly important with materials that have a propensity to interact with aqueous environments, as in the case of calcium phosphate ceramics. Therefore, we examined the effects of various standard histological fixation techniques on hydroxylapatite coated metal implants. Of the techniques examined, fixation with ethanol appeared to affect the surface morphology the least, whereas fixation in unbuffered formalin appeared to affect the bulk composition of these samples the least. Fixation in buffered formalin resulted in marked changes in both surface morphology and bulk composition. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.