Silk protein implants help mend broken bones

The development, from Tufts University School of Engineering and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), is claimed to overcome disadvantages experienced when fixing broken bones with metal screws and plates.

These include stiffness that can cause stress to underlying bone, increased risk of infection and poor wound healing, plus surgery to remove implants.

Resorbable fixation devices, made of synthetic polymers, avoid some of these problems but may pose a risk of inflammatory reactions and are difficult to implant.

It is claimed the surgical plates and screws from BIDMC and Tufts have the potential to offer improved bone remodelling following injury and can be absorbed by the body over time, eliminating the need for surgical removal of the devices.

The findings, demonstrated in vitro and in a rodent model, are described in Nature Communications.

‘Unlike metal, the composition of silk protein may be similar to bone composition,’ said co-senior author Samuel Lin, MD, of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. ‘Silk materials are extremely robust. They maintain structural stability under very high temperatures and withstand other extreme conditions, and they can be readily sterilised.’