Evaluation of an artificial vertebral body fabricated by a tantalum-coated porous titanium scaffold for lumbar vertebral defect repair in rabbits

Tantalum (Ta)-coated porous Ti-6A1-4V scaffolds have better bioactivity than Ti-6A1-4V scaffolds; however, their bioperformance as an artificial vertebral body (AVB) is unknown. In the present study, we combined a Ta-coated Ti-6A1-4V scaffold with rabbit bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) for tissue-engineered AVB (TEAVB) construction and evaluated the healing and fusion efficacy of this scaffold in lumbar vertebral defects after corpectomy in rabbits. The results showed that BMSCs on the surface of the Ta-coated Ti scaffolds proliferated better than BMSCs on Ti scaffolds. Histomorphometry showed better bone formation when using Ta-coated TEAVBs than that with Ti TEAVBs at both 8 and 12 weeks after implantation. In addition, the vertical and rotational stiffness results showed that, compared with uncoated TEAVBs, Ta-coated TEAVBs enhanced rabbit lumbar vertebral defect repair. Our findings demonstrate that Ta-coated TEAVBs have better healing and fusion efficacy than Ti TEAVBs in rabbit lumbar vertebral defects, which indicates their good prospects for clinical application.