Development of an intraosseous transcutaneous orthopaedic implant (ITAP) resistant to bacteria infections through the combination of passive and active strategies

如果腿部、手臂、手指或拇指在出生时不得不截肢或丢失，可以安装人工替代品(称为假肢或假肢)。假肢通常有一个凹槽，通过吸力或捆绑在缺失肢体的残端上固定到位。然而，这会导致主要的缺点，如残肢刺激或幻肢综合征。在这种情况下，经皮骨内假体(ITAP)植入被描述为最生理学的，因此可能是成功的预防先前引起的问题的方法。在这个过程中，一个金属植入物通过皮肤插入残肢的骨头中心。然后，将假肢连接到金属植入物上。其目的是制造一种更舒适、更安全的假肢边缘。不幸的是，ITAP离开人体的地方往往是感染的部位，这些感染可以通过适当整合植入物周围的真皮和表皮组织来消除，在植入物周围形成软组织密封。此外，完全预防感染还需要赋予假体杀菌性能。因此，我们的目标是提供钛(我们的工业合作伙伴用于构建矫形植入物的材料)具有两种可能防止细菌定植的功能特性。这些特性是1)促进皮肤细胞在表面上黏附和铺展的能力；这是一种被动功能；2)为表面提供抗菌特性；这是一种主动功能。

If a leg, arm, finger or thumb has had to be amputated, or is missing at birth, an artificial substitute (known as aprosthetic limb or prosthesis) may be fitted. Prosthetic limbs usually have a socket and are held in place eitherby suction or by being strapped to the stump of the missing limb. However, this leads to major drawbacks suchas irritation of the stump or phantom limb syndrome. In this context, the implantation of intraosseoustranscutaneous prostheses (ITAP) was described as the most physiological, and thus probably successful,approach to prevent the previously evoked problems. In this procedure, a metal implant is inserted through theskin and into the centre of the bone of the stump. A prosthetic limb is then attached to the metal implant. Theaim is to produce a more comfortable and securely attached prosthetic limb.Unfortunately, the point where ITAP exits from the human body is often the site for infections which could bepotentially eliminated by proper integration of dermal and epidermal tissues around the implant, creating a softtissue seal around it. In addition, a complete prevention of the infection also requires endowing the prostheticdevice with bacteria-killing properties.Accordingly, our objective is to provide titanium (which is the material used by our industrial partner tobuild-up orthopaedic implants) with two functional properties that are both likely to prevent bacterialcolonization. These properties are 1) the capability of promoting skin cell adhesion and spreading on thesurface; this is a passive functionality and 2) providing the surface with antibacterial properties; this is anactive functionality.