Nickel has a number of adverse biological effects that have made the use of nickel in biomedical implants controversial. Yet information about the distribution of nickel in tissues around nickel-containing implants is scarce. The purpose of the current study was to use a laser ablation technique, combined with inductively coupled mass spectroscopy, to assess the spatial distribution of nickel around nickel-containing implants in vivo. Polyethylene, pure nickel wire, or a nickel-containing alloy (Ni-Cr) were implanted subcutaneously into rats for 7 days. The tissues were analyzed for Ni content and inflammation at 1-mm intervals up to 5 mm away from the implants. The sham surgery sites and the polyethylene caused mild to moderate inflammation 1-2 mm from the implant site with no detectable nickel in the tissue. The nickel wire caused severe inflammation up to 5 mm away from the implant site with necrosis for 1 mm around the implant. Nickel concentrations reached 48 g/g near the implants, falling exponentially to undetectable levels at 3-4 mm from the implants. The Ni-Cr wire caused inflammation equivalent to polyethylene, with less than 4 g/g of nickel present in the tissue for 1-2 mm around the implants. The current study showed that the laserablation technique was well suited for the analysis of soft tissues for metal-ion content, and that the nickel distribution in tissues correlated well with overt tissue inflammation.
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The E.P.R. study has shown that iron present in the materials issued from iron enriched kaolinites and used as catalyst in (CO + H2) reactions, is partly a "structural iron" located on the grains outer surfaces and a "resisting iron" in substitution octaedric sites.
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