Rabbit Femur Implantation Study

Ten adult male New Zealand white rabbits weighing 2.5–3 kg were divided into two groups, group A was implanted with Ti-B12 material, and group B was implanted with Ti6Al4V material. After administration of pentobarbital through the ear vein, the epicondyle of both rabbit femurs of rabbits was exposed, and a hole was made perpendicular to the femur with a 2.0 g Schner wire. The sterilized material was implanted and sutured layer by layer (Figure 2). Penicillin (10,000 U.kg^-1) was used to prevent infection 3 days after the operation, and an X-ray examination was performed 3 months after the procedure. Three months after the operation, the animals were sacrificed by overdose of anesthesia to obtain specimens for hard tissue sections to observe bone growth around the material. The production process of hard tissue section is rough as follows: the femur specimen containing titanium alloy is made into a resin block after formalin fixation, gradient alcohol dehydration, and resin immersion. A diamond band saw was used to cut the resin blocks into sheets with a thickness of 200–300 μm, and the sheets were cleaned and adhered to the resin slides. The sample was ground to a thickness of approximately 50 µm using an EXAKT tissue mill (E400CS), and the sample surface was polished and stained with toluidine blue. The prepared sections were observed under a microscope.