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Electrochemical removal of metallic implants from Technovit 9100 New embedded hard and soft tissues prior to histological sectioning

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Abstract

Solid metallic implants in soft or hard tissues are serious challenges for histological processing. However, metallic implants are more frequently used in e.g. cardiovascular or orthopaedic therapies. Before clinical use, these devices need to be tested thoroughly in a biological environment and histological analysis of their biocompatibility is a major requirement. To allow the histological analysis of metallic implants in tissues especially in calcified hard tissues, we describe a method for embedding these tissues in the resin Technovit 9100 New and removing the metallic implants by electrochemical dissolution. With the combination of these two processes, we are able to achieve 5 μm thick sections from soft or hard tissues with a superior preservation of tissue architecture and especially the implant-tissue interface. These sections can be stained by classical stainings, immunohistochemical and enzymehistochemical as well as DNA-based staining methods.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Maike Haupt and Katharina Bobe (Hannover Medical School) for helpful discussions and technical support, Jens Nellesen (Technische Universität Dortmund) for the microtomographical imaging, Fabian Goede (Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hannover Medical School) for the production of Fig. 1 and Matthias Lerch (Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hannover Medical School), IMTM GmbH (Magdeburg) and DERU GmbH (Norderstedt) for providing samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Biomechanics and Biomaterials, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Anna-von-Borries-Straße 1–7, 30625, Hannover, Germany

    Elmar Willbold, Mattias Reebmann & Frank Witte

  2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Richard Jeffries & Frank Witte

Authors
  1. Elmar Willbold
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  2. Mattias Reebmann
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  3. Richard Jeffries
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  4. Frank Witte
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Correspondence to Frank Witte.

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Willbold, E., Reebmann, M., Jeffries, R. et al. Electrochemical removal of metallic implants from Technovit 9100 New embedded hard and soft tissues prior to histological sectioning. Histochem Cell Biol 140, 585–593 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-013-1089-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00418-013-1089-6

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