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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Tom Joyce
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For appropriate in vitro wear testing of prostheses and their biomaterials, the choice of lubricant is critical. Bovine serum is the lubricant recommended by several international standards for wear testing artificial joints and their biomaterials because the wear rate and wear mechanisms closely match clinical results of polyethylene bearings. The main problem with the use of bovine serum as a lubricant is protein degradation and precipitation formation, effects that are recognized as having a direct impact on wear processes. Hence, some researchers have questioned the validity of using bovine serum in simulator testing. This paper reviews the various lubricants used in laboratory wear studies and also the properties of the synovial fluid that the lubricant is trying to replicate. It is clear from the literature survey that the composition of bovine-serum-based lubricants does not match that of synovial fluid. In view of this conclusion, it is suggested that there is a need to develop an alternative lubricant that can replace bovine serum.
Author(s): Harsha AP, Joyce TJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine
Year: 2011
Volume: 225
Issue: H10
Pages: 948-958
Print publication date: 18/07/2011
ISSN (print): 0954-4119
ISSN (electronic): 2041-3033
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0954411911416047
DOI: 10.1177/0954411911416047
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