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Background: Wood has been used as a model material for the development of novel fiber-reinforced composite bone substitute biomaterials. In previous studies heat treatment of wood was perceived to significantly increase the osteoconductivity of implanted wood material., Aim: The objective of this study was to examine some of the changing attributes of wood materials that may contribute to improved biological responses gained with heat treatment., Methods: Untreated and 140°C and 200°C heat-treated downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) were used as the wood materials. Surface roughness and the effect of pre-measurement grinding were measured with contact and non-contact profilometry. Liquid interaction was assessed with a dipping test using two manufactured liquids (simulated blood) as well as human blood. SEM was used to visualize possible heat treatment-induced changes in the hierarchical structure of wood., Results: The surface roughness was observed to significantly decrease with heat treatment. Grinding methods had more influence on the surface contour and roughness than heat treatment. The penetration of the human blood in the 200°C heat-treated exceeded that in the untreated and 140°C heat-treated materials. SEM showed no significant change due to heat treatment in the dry-state morphology of the wood., Discussion: The results of the liquid penetration test support previous findings in literature concerning the effects of heat treatment on the biological response to implanted wood. Heat-treatment has only a marginal effect on the surface contour of wood. The highly specialized liquid conveyance system of wood may serve as a biomimetic model for the further development of tailored fiber-composite materials.

Wood is a natural fiber reinforced composite. It structurally resembles bone tissue to some extent. Specially heat-treated birch wood has been used as a model material for further development of synthetic fiber reinforced composites (FRC) for medical and dental use. In previous studies it has been shown, that heat treatment has a positive effect on the osteoconductivity of an implanted wood. In this study the effects of two different heat treatment temperatures (140 and 200 degrees C) on wood were studied in vitro. Untreated wood was used as a control material. Heat treatment induced biomechanical changes were studied with flexural and compressive tests on dry birch wood as well as on wood after 63 days of simulated body fluid (SBF) immersion. Dimensional changes, SBF sorption and hydroxylapatite type mineral formation were also assessed. The results showed that SBF immersion decreases the biomechanical performance of wood and that the heat treatment diminishes the effect of SBF immersion on biomechanical properties. With scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis it was shown that hydroxylapatite type mineral precipitation formed on the 200 degrees C heat-treated wood. An increased weight gain of the same material during SBF immersion supported this finding. The results of this study give more detailed insight of the biologically relevant changes that heat treatment induces in wood material. Furthermore the findings in this study are in line with previous in vivo studies.

Wood is a natural porous fibre composite, which has some structural similarities to bone. Recently, it has been used as a modelling material in developing synthetic fibre-reinforced composite to be used as load-bearing non-metallic artificial bone material. In this study, the behaviour of wood implanted into bone was studied in vivo in the femur bone of the rabbit. Wood was pre-treated by heat, which altered its chemical composition and structure, as well as the biomechanical properties. In the heat treatment, wood's dimensional stability is enhanced, equilibrium moisture content reduces and the biological durability increases. Cone-shaped implants were manufactured from heat-treated (at 200 and 140 degrees C) birch wood (Betula pubescens) and from untreated birch. A total of 62 implants were placed in the distal femur of 50 white New Zealand rabbits. The behaviour of the implants was studied at 4, 8 and 20 weeks with histological and histometrical analysis. Osteoconductive contact line and the presence of fibrous tissue and foreign body reaction were determined. The amount of fibrous tissue diminished with time, and the absence of foreign body reaction was found to be in correlation to the amount of heat treatment. Histologically found contact between the implant and the host bone at the interface was significantly more abundant in the 200 degrees C group (avg. 12.8%) vs. the 140 degrees C (avg. 2.7%) and the untreated groups (avg. 0.6%). It was observed that the heat treatment significantly modified the biological behaviour of the implanted wood. The changes of the wood by heat treatment showed a positive outcome concerning osteoconductivity of the material.

Deciduous wood, birch, pretreated by a technique combining heat and water vapor was applied for the reconstruction of bone defects in the knee joint of rabbits. It was observed that wood showed characteristic properties to be incorporated by the host bone during observation time of 4, 8, and 20 weeks. The natural channel structure of wood served as a porous scaffold, allowing host bone growth as small islets into the wood implants. The other properties of heat-treated wood, such as bioactivity, good handling properties, and sufficient biomechanical properties, might be additional favorable factors for the application of wood as a natural composite material for bone and cartilage repair. At the interface of the surfaces of wood and living bone, bonding occurred. The Chemical Interface Model for bonding bone to wood consists of the reactive ions, such as hydroxyl groups --OH, and covalent bonding as well as hydrogen bonding, which originate from both wood and bone. The bone tissue trauma, with its reactive Ca(2+) and PO(4) (3-) ions, proteins, and collagen, available for interaction at ionic and nanolevel, are associated with the complicated chemistry in the cellular response of the early bone healing process. It was concluded that heat-treated wood acted like a porous biomaterial scaffold, allowing ongrowth and ingrowth of bone and cartilage differentiation on its surface, and demonstrating osteoconductive contact, bonding at the interface.