Monitoring of Implant Structure and Drug Delivery Systems Using Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Analysis

The method of scanning electron microscopy in complex with energy dispersive spectrometric analysis is applied for the first time for studying the composition of materials used or medical purposes. Cartilage implants have been formed based on polyacrylamide hydrogels reinforced by bacterial and plant celluloses, and the dynamics of variation of compositions of implant and the boundary osteal regions of a joint, indicating the dependence of osteointegration on the cellulose origin, has been demonstrated. The systems of protein delivery based on porous vaterites CaCO3 have been investigated, and one variant of delivery systems is represented by composite systems in which the CaCO3 matrices of the core are coated with a shell consisting of several pairs of polyelectrolyte layers. The possibility of determining the structures of polyelectrolyte shells depending on the method of their formation has been demonstrated, and the position of the encapsulated protein in CaCO3 cores has been determined.