After the implantation of methylmethacrylate cement into the posterior
part of the cervical spine of the dog, a thick layer of connective tissue
forms at the bone-cement interface. The tissue is six to eight millimeters
thick and in all animals it surrounds the dorsal and lateral aspects of the
masses of implanted cement, grows between the undersurface of the cement
and the bone of the posterior elements, and completely covers that bone.
This tissue was examined by light and electron microscopy and its
collagenous components were extracted and analyzed biochemically by gel
electrophoresis. Specific extracellular matrix proteins in the tissue at
the bone-cement interface were also localized by immunohistochemistry. The
tissue at the host-cement interface contained zones of fibrocytes and plump
and teardrop-shaped cells within a collagenous matrix. Type-I, Type-III,
and Type-V collagen were extracted and were identified by gel
electrophoresis. Type-V collagen and fibronectin were localized
predominantly around the plump and teardrop-shaped cells. Type-IV collagen
and laminin were localized predominantly in an area just beneath the
teardrop-shaped cells at the surface of the tissue overlying the cement,
suggesting that a basement-membrane-like tissue had formed in this
area.