Nature's answer to breaching the skin barrier: an innovative development for amputees
Nature's answer to breaching the skin barrier: an innovative development for amputees
复制标题
DOI：
10.1111/j.1469-7580.2006.00595.x
复制
发表时间：
2006-07-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Blunn, G. W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pendegrass, C. J.;Goodship, A. E.;Blunn, G. W.
人体进化到通过皮肤和粘膜的覆盖来维持动态平衡，这将内部环境与严酷多变的外部环境隔开。很少有结构自然地穿透这些覆盖物，牙齿是人类唯一的例外。试图突破这些障碍，开发穿透性皮肤、骨锚式截肢假体，可能会导致微生物的机会主义入侵和随后的感染，从而危及个人的生命。只有几个有趣的例子表明，其他物种的外皮被打断而没有造成如此可怕的后果，鹿角就是这样一个例子。鹿角是大多数鹿物种雄性头盖骨的额骨上长出的头骨附属物，是真正的瞬时穿透皮肤的结构。在发情季节，鹿角承受着极端的负荷，但皮肤和骨骼之间的屏障仍然完好无损。在这里，我们展示了鹿角如何被用作成功开发专门的矫形截肢假体的天然类似物。我们利用对鹿角形态的定量和定性研究结果，开发了一种模仿鹿角结构的装置，该装置在植入物和宿主组织之间创建了紧密的密封，用于截肢假肢。
The human body has evolved to maintain homeostasis through the covering of skin and mucous membranes, which separate the internal environment from the harsh and variable external milieu. Few structures naturally penetrate these coverings, and teeth are the only exception in human beings. Attempts to breach these barriers, to develop skin- penetrating, bone-anchored amputation prostheses, can lead to opportunist invasion by microorganisms and subsequent infection, which can jeopardize the life of the individual. There are only a few fascinating examples where the integument of other species is interrupted without such dire consequences, and the deer antler is one such case. Deer antlers are cephalic bony appendages arising from the frontal bones of the skull of the males of most deer species, and are true transient skin-penetrating structures. Antlers are subject to extreme loading during the rutting season and yet the skin-bone barrier remains intact. Here we show how deer antlers can be used as natural analogues for the successful development of specialized orthopaedic amputation prosthetics. We have used quantitative and qualitative findings from a study of the morphology of deer antlers to develop a device that mimics their structure, which creates a tight seal between the implant and the host tissues, for use in amputation prosthetics.