3.1. Raman Analysis
Due to the compositional variability of the SF, the characteristics of formed films are dependent on the amount of present proteins and other constituents as well as physical conditions of the joint. The main objective of this research is to trace the chemical conditions present within the joint replacement, while measurement of frictional coefficient may also reveal some reality. Raman fingerprints of BIOLOX
®delta and BIOLOX
®forte hip implants after tribological test with albumin and
γ-globulin are shown in
Figure 2.
Concerning BIOLOX
®delta ball surface, a prominent peak near 265 cm
−1 is observed in
Figure 2a both before and after tribological tests with albumin and
γ-globulin. The marker bands of tetragonal zirconia are found at 265 cm
−1, 318 cm
−1, 459 cm
−1 and 643 cm
−1 [
8]. Therefore, these bands are visible as basic skeleton of zirconia toughened alumina components, including the BIOLOX
®delta. The second prominent peak of the clean BIOLOX
®delta ball surface at 643 cm
−1 shifts to 645 cm
−1 after test with albumin and to 646 cm
−1 after test with
γ-globulin. Peaks at 318 cm
−1, 380 cm
−1, 417 cm
−1 and 459 cm
−1 visible in the spectrum of a clean BIOLOX
®delta ball surface, shift to 316 cm
−1, 383 cm
−1, 420 cm
−1 and 464 cm
−1, respectively, after test with albumin and to 319 cm
−1, 382 cm
−1, 420 cm
−1 and 461 cm
−1, respectively, after test with
γ-globulin. In contrast, the 380 cm
−1 band is attributed to the monoclinic polymorph, while band at 419 cm
−1 is described by Taddei et al. [
13] as belonging to alumina. The latter, observed here for BIOLOX
®delta ball without any tribological test at 417 cm
−1, shifted to 420 cm
−1 after test with both albumin and
γ-globulin, which is agreement with value 419 cm
−1, given by Taddei et al. [
13]. In
Figure 2b, the prominent peak of clean BIOLOX
®forte surface at 418 cm
−1 is unaffected by the tests. Similarly, the other peaks of the BIOLOX
®forte surface at 380 cm
−1, 578 cm
−1, 645 cm
−1 and 751 cm
−1 show negligible shifts due to tests with albumin and
γ-globulin. On the contrary, the peak at 475 cm
−1 is visible on the BIOLOX
®forte surface only after tests with albumin and
γ-globulin. In addition, a small peak appears at 1453 cm
−1 after test with albumin. Thus BIOLOX
®forte surface exhibited before test a prominent peak at 418 cm
−1 due to presence of alumina [
13], this peak is also visible after tribological tests with both albumin and
γ-globulin, without change of position. Other peaks recognizable for BIOLOX
®forte components are found at 751 cm
−1, 645 cm
−1, 578 cm
−1 and 380 cm
−1 with only slight differences throughout all measurements. An exceptional peak at 1453 cm
−1 is observed on BIOLOX
®forte surface after test with albumin, providing information on CH
2/CH
3 deformation in the protein. In addition, a peak at 475 cm
−1 is visible on the BIOLOX
®forte surface with albumin and
γ-globulin, which is due to C–C skeletal deformation [
13,
42,
43]. Both peaks are probably markers of albumin and
γ-globulin chemisorption on the surface of the BIOLOX
®forte ball.
Figure 3 summarizes results of tribological tests for liquid HA. The HA fluid shows several peaks before test. There is a double peak near 1366 cm
−1 and 1416 cm
−1, which is due to C–H bending [
44] and due to C–N stretching and C–H deformation, respectively. Additionally, there is a peak at 1080 cm
−1 due to C–OH bending and acetyl group [
44,
45]. The prominent peak at 992 cm
−1 is due to ring breathing vibration [
46] (p. 482). The 879 cm
−1 peak is also reported in literature [
44] for HA. In
Figure 3a HA collected after the tribological test with BIOLOX
®delta shows change of the chemical structure, especially near 1000 cm
−1: the ring-breathing mode at 993 cm
−1 is altered and the C–OH bending peak remain at 1080 cm
−1. In addition, the peak near 879 cm
−1 is lost completely. In contrast, after test spectra with BIOLOX
®forte in
Figure 3b preserve the prominent HA liquid peak at 992 cm
−1 together with most other peaks. The main features of HA fluid remain mostly unchanged after test with BIOLOX
®forte. The most significant change is the shift of C-N stretching peak from 1416 cm
−1 to 1409 cm
−1 and dissapearance of the 879 cm
−1 band. The main Raman markers of HA at 1047 cm
−1, 1372 cm
−1 and 1406 cm
−1 are connected with C–C and C–O stretching, C–H bending and combination of C–N stretching and C–H deformation, respectively [
44]. Other reported Raman bands of HA include 446 cm
−1, 949 cm
−1 and 2904 cm
−1.
Figure 4 summarizes changes on the surface of balls after tests with HA. In
Figure 4a, the prominent BIOLOX
®delta ball surface peak at 265 cm
−1 is unaffected by the test with HA. The second prominent peak at 643 cm
−1 before test is shifted to 646 cm
−1 after test with HA. The remaining BIOLOX
®delta ball surface peaks at 313 cm
−1, 380 cm
−1, 417 cm
−1 and 459 cm
−1 are shifted a bit and become weaker with the test with HA. Thus, only tetragonal zirconia peaks at 265 cm
−1 and 646 cm
−1 remain well resolved. The other tetragonal zirconia peaks as well the alumina peak at 417 cm
−1 are masked by strong after-test luminescence. Even though shifting is observed at 315 cm
−1, 372 cm
−1 and 456 cm
−1 positions for the spectra of BIOLOX
®delta surface after test with HA. Thus, for the BIOLOX
®delta ball surface, some marker bands of tetragonal zirconia disappeared, and strong luminescence was observed after the experiment with HA. In
Figure 4b all main peaks of the BIOLOX
®forte surface are preserved after test with HA. In addition, there are several new after-test peaks with BIOLOX
®forte: a strong peak at 475 cm
−1, two peaks near 1500 cm
−1 and two shoulders, at 310 cm
−1 and at 1761 cm
−1. The surface of BIOLOX
®forte after testing with HA, luminescence was also observed, but in lesser extent and the peaks characteristic for the clean surface remain mostly unchanged, including the prominent 418 cm
−1 alumina peak. More importantly, a peak on the after-test surface appeared at 475 cm
−1 due to C-C skeletal deformation. This peak was also visible on the BIOLOX
®forte surface after testing with albumin and
γ-globulin. Further, well resolved peaks at 1457 cm
−1, 1520 cm
−1 and 1761 cm
−1 appear after test with HA on the BIOLOX
®forte surface, which cannot be identified with the clean surface peaks at 1355 cm
−1 and 1511 cm
−1. The peak at 1457 cm
−1 gives information about CH
2/CH
3 deformation [
46,
47] (p. 480), while the 1761 cm
−1 peak could be due to the C=O stretch [
46] (p. 479). The peak at 1520 cm
−1 and an additional peak at 310 cm
−1 cannot be precisely defined. In summary, it can be assumed that chemical reaction took place between the ceramic balls and HA. For BIOLOX
®forte, strong peak due to C-C skeletal deformation is found at 475 cm
−1 after the test, this peak is also found for proteins on the same surface. In addition, four other peaks at 310 cm
−1, 1457 cm
−1, 1520 cm
−1 and 1761 cm
−1 are probably due to chemical adsorption of HA on the ball.
Figure 5 summarizes changes in model fluids SF1, SF2 and SF3 after tests with both types of ceramic balls. Apart from water peak at 1651 cm
−1, the SF1 fluid shows in
Figure 5a the before-test peaks at 1336 cm
−1 and 1449 cm
−1, together with smaller peaks at 945 cm
−1 and 1003 cm
−1 and a shoulder near 450 cm
−1. All these peaks remain mostly unaffected by tests with ceramic balls. Therefore, model fluid SF1 has shown the smallest changes due to the test with the ceramic balls. The prominent peak near 1651 cm
−1 before test is due to water, however, its shift to 1656 cm
−1 with BIOLOX
®forte ball and to 1654 cm
−1 with BIOLOX
®delta ball suggests contribution of the α-helix Amide I range (1645–1660 cm
−1), which could be explained by bonding of albumin [
48] (p. 217). Concerning other peaks, the 1449 cm
−1 peak is an expression of CH
2/CH
3 deformation [
46,
47] (p. 480) and 1336 cm
−1 peak comes from CH
2–CH
3 wagging [
46,
47] (p. 10). Two further peaks exhibited by all SF1 liquid spectra at 1003 cm
−1 and 945 cm
−1 are due to ring breathing [
49] and C-C skeletal stretching α helix [
49], respectively. The broad spectral feature shown in all SF1 spectra near 450 cm
−1 could be due to C–C skeletal deformation [
46] (p. 11). Similar to SF1, the before-test peaks of SF2 are shown in
Figure 5b at 1336 cm
−1, 1451 cm
−1, 945 cm
−1 and 1003 cm
−1, including the shoulder near 490 cm
−1. Even though the peaks at 945 cm
−1, 1003 cm
−1 and 1336 cm
−1 remain mostly unaffected by the tests, the peak at 1451 cm
−1 shifts to 1453 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®forte ball, but to 1448 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta ball. The spectra of SF2 liquid shows similar properties concerning the α-helix Amide I range, but there are also more visible changes. The SF2 CH
2/CH
3 deformation shifts from 1451 cm
−1 before test to 1448 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta and to 1453 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®forte. The SF2 before-test 1336 cm
−1 peak due to CH
2–CH
3 wagging shifts to 1338 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta ball and cup pair. The results shown in
Figure 5c for SF3 fluid are similar to the case of SF2. The main SF3 peaks before test are located at 1340 cm
−1, 1456 cm
−1, 943 cm
−1 and 1004 cm
−1, including the shoulder near 450 cm
−1 and a small peak 852 cm
−1. Most of these peaks remain unaffected by testing, but the 1456 cm
−1 peak shifts to 1449 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta ball. In addition, the peak at 943 cm
−1 before test shifts to 945 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®forte ball and to 941 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta ball. In the spectra of SF3 liquid, the before-test water peak at 1656 cm
−1 shifts after the test with both types of ceramic balls more significantly to 1654 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta ball and cup. Since this peak lies in the range of α-helix Amide I band, the observed shifts may be due to changes in albumin, present in the SF3. The CH
2/CH
3 deformation peak is present at 1456 cm
−1 in the before -test liquid and, similarly to SF2, it shifts more prominently (to 1449 cm
−1) after test with BIOLOX
®delta. The before-test values of the CH
2–CH
3 wagging peak at 1340 cm
−1 and the ring-breathing peak at 1004 cm
−1 remain mostly unaffected by the tests. On the other hand, the SF3 C–C skeletal stretching of α helix shifts from 943 cm
−1 before testing to 941 cm
−1 and 945 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta and BIOLOX
®forte ball and cup pairs, respectively. In addition, the C-C skeletal stretch shifts from 852 cm
−1 without test to 858 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®delta and to 851 cm
−1 after test with BIOLOX
®forte. The broad feature near 450 cm
−1 in all SF3 fluid spectra is probably due to C-C skeletal deformation [
46] (p. 11). Due to high Raman cross-section of phenyl group near 1000 cm
−1 caused at visual wavelengths of excitation by its pre-resonance character due to the underlying delocalized p-electron system [
50], tyrosine and tryptophan are good markers of protein presence, especially in case of resonant excitation [
51]. Concerning specifically albumin, its Amide I and III bands are located near 1656 cm
−1 and 1250 cm
−1, respectively. In addition, intense bands near 1340 cm
−1 due to sidechain stretching are observed [
52]. In addition, albumin marker band near 940 cm
−1 is also reported [
53]. While in case of globulin the overall structure and the charge density profile of is related with electrostatic attraction between positive charges of protein and negative charges of polysaccharide. The hydrogen bonds are beneficial in case of the majority of carboxyl functions of polysaccharide are protonated [
49].
Figure 6a after testing with BIOLOX
®delta ball, all three model fluids on the ball surface presented characteristic spectra found also on the clean BIOLOX
®delta ball, only with slight peak shifts. The clean BIOLOX
®delta surface provides peaks at 265 cm
−1, 313 cm
−1, 380 cm
−1, 417 cm
−1, 459 cm
−1 and 643 cm
−1. The peak at 380 cm
−1 is diminished for SF1 and shifted to 381 cm
−1 and 383 cm
−1 for SF2 and SF3, respectively. The peak at 417 cm
−1 is shifted to 421 cm
−1 for SF1 while for the other two fluids it is left almost unaffected. However, after testing with SF2 and SF3, differences were found also on the BIOLOX
®delta ball surface. Even though before-test peak at 459 cm
−1 does not shift significantly after test with SF1, there is an apparent shift to 476 cm
−1 after the test for both SF2 and SF3. The BIOLOX
®forte ball surface with all three model fluids is shown in
Figure 6b. The clean surface shows peaks at 380 cm
−1, 418 cm
−1, 578 cm
−1, 645 cm
−1 and 751 cm
−1. The main peak at 418 cm
−1 shifts near 415 cm
−1 for all three fluids. The peak at 380 cm
−1 downshifts near 376 cm
−1 for all three fluids. The peak at 578 cm
−1 shifts to 574 cm
−1 for SF2 and SF3, but to 576 cm
−1 for SF1. The peak at 751 cm
−1 shifts to 747 cm
−1 for SF1 and SF3, but to 750 cm
−1 for SF2. The peak at 645 cm
−1 seems to be almost unaffected by the fluids, but three weak peaks at 1341 cm
−1, 1456 cm
−1 and 1672 cm
−1 for SF2 and 1335 cm
−1, 1458 cm
−1 and 1670 cm
−1 appeared for SF3.Therefore, three types of model SFs conducted in the tribological tests with BIOLOX
®delta and BIOLOX
®forte hip implant balls mimicked the condition of a healthy joint (SF1), a total joint replacement (SF2) and an osteoarthritic joint (SF3). The distinctly smallest changes in the fluid were shown after tests by SF1, which had the lowest protein content in our study. One can thus conclude that elevated protein content is a significant factor for interaction with the ceramic balls of both types. Concerning the ball surfaces, BIOLOX
®delta showed smaller differences after tests for SFs. Thus, for the tribological test of model SFs with BIOLOX
®delta, it can be assumed that there is little reaction between proteins and the ball surface. This is in accordance with Parkes et al. [
10], who state that phase transformation of the BIOLOX
®delta femoral head was not triggered by wear simulated implants. On the other hand, the elevated after-test reaction of the BIOLOX
®forte surface was confirmed also with individual SF protein constituents and HA. In particular, after testing with BIOLOX
®delta ball, all three model fluids on the ball surface presented characteristic spectra found also on the clean BIOLOX
®delta ball, only with slight peak shifts. However, after testing with SF2 and SF3, differences were found also on the BIOLOX
®delta ball surface. Even though before-test peak at 459 cm
−1 does not shift significantly after test with SF1, there is an apparent shift to 476 cm
−1 after the test for both SF2 and SF3. In addition, the before-test peak at 380 cm
−1 shifts to 381 cm
−1 after test with SF2 and to 383 cm
−1 after test with SF3. More pronounced changes after tests with SFs were provided by the BIOLOX
®forte balls. Most significant is the appearance of new bands near 1350 cm
−1, 1460 cm
−1 and 1670 cm
−1 after the tests with SF2 and SF3, confirming again the higher activity of these two fluid types. The 1460 cm
−1 band lies in the region of CH
2/CH
3 deformation [
46,
47] (p. 480), a peak in this range was also found on the BIOLOX
®forte surface while reacting with HA. The peak near 1670 cm
−1 may give Amide I evidence of the β-sheet structure. The peak near 1350 cm
−1 is likely due to CH
2–CH
3 wagging.
3.3. Coefficient of Friction Analysis
Coefficient of friction was measured for both BIOLOX
®delta and BIOLOX
®forte ceramic ball and cup contact pairs with albumin,
γ-globulin, HA and all three types of model fluids SF1, SF2 and SF3, each measurement were conducted three times. In
Figure 9 the coefficient of friction values for both joint pairs with all six lubricants are described with statistical analysis. For albumin, BIOLOX
®delta provides mean value 0.170 and BIOLOX
®forte provides 0.163, which are very close. Accordingly,
γ-globulin results in coefficient of friction with smaller variation between BIOLOX
®delta and BIOLOX
®forte surfaces, 0.0146 and 0.155, respectively. On the other hand, the value for HA with BIOLOX
®forte ball, 0.120, is lower than the value 0.151 with BIOLOX
®delta, the standard deviation for HA with BIOLOX
®delta also showed comparatively higher. For the model fluids, values of coefficient of friction for BIOLOX
®delta and BIOLOX
®forte balls showed sufficient differences in case of SF1 and SF2, values for BIOLOX
®forte are considerably higher than that for BIOLOX
®delta. For SF3 with BIOLOX
®delta contact pair, a bit higher mean value 0.125 is shown than for SF3 with BIOLOX
®forte mean, 0.12. With BIOLOX
®delta contact pair the coefficient of friction was found to be higher in the case of albumin, HA and a bit higher in case of osteoarthritic model SF compared to BIOLOX
®forte contact pair. However, the BIOLOX
®forte contact pair exhibited a higher mean coefficient of friction in the case of
γ-globulin, model SF of healthy joint and model SF of total joint replacement. Literature shows that the friction coefficients are influenced more by the combination of materials specifically in case of ceramic-on-ceramic implants, than by the diameter of a femoral head [
41]. Kasuka et al. [
54] measured friction between flat surfaces of three ceramics, lubricated with bovine serum solution. Coefficient friction for alumina showed 0.05 at 35 °C. While for alumina nanocomposites friction measurement were carried out using a ball-on-plate tribometer, with distilled water and fetal bovine serum solution (FBSS). The coefficient of friction was around 0.3–0.5 for FBSS and approximately 0.4–0.7 for distilled water [
55]. With 25% bovine serum friction coefficient was investigated for BIOLOX
®forte (32 mm) using hip friction simulator, cup positioned with 0° and 75°abduction angle. Under 2500 N load friction coefficient was in the region of 0.2 with 0° abduction angle and at 75° abduction angle three specimens showed 0.12, 0.054 and 0.083, respectively [
56]. While the friction coefficient derives from a curve of slowdown of pendulum oscillations, using the same pendulum hip joint simulator was studied with bovine serum lubricant and using the load 75 kg. The friction coefficient for ceramic-on-ceramic surfaces was measured 0.11 to 0.12 [
41].
Albumin and γ-globulin showed almost no chemical reactivity for BIOLOX®delta ceramic, whereas chemisorption took place for BIOLOX®forte with albumin and γ-globulin both proteins individually. The coefficient of friction result for these two proteins with BIOLOX®delta and BIOLOX®forte contact pairs are very close values. On the contrary for SF1 and SF2, BIOLOX®delta and BIOLOX®forte contact pairs coefficient of friction showed vast differences, where BIOLOX®forte value was higher and SF3 showed very close mean values for both contact pairs. While chemisorption took place in case of BIOLOX®forte specifically for SF2 and SF3, but BIOLOX®delta showed almost no chemical reactivity for all three types of model fluids. On the other hand, HA was reactive for both ceramic contact pairs, even though between BIOLOX®delta and BIOLOX®forte mean values of friction are quite variable with HA.
Therefore, in accordance with the occurrence of chemisorption no linear relationship with the coefficient of friction observed. Hence the variation of coefficient of friction could not be correlated with the occurrence of chemical reaction within the ceramic contact pairs with model SFs and its components It can be concluded that frictional behavior of the contact pair is not an influencing factor of the chemisorption process of SF lubricant on the ceramic implant materials surfaces.
In the present study, chemical composition and chemical structure of the SF films are apprehended while differentiating the variability of the SF lubricants. However, four main constituents of SF albumin,
γ-globulin, HA and phospholipids were considered here as lubricants while limiting the effect of other components present in SF in trace amount to entail simplification of the methodology. Nevertheless, we could determine the chemical reactivity of each of these components of SF separately and within a mixture with ceramic implant head. Additionally, it was possible to indicate the structural changes of lubricants due to tribological activity. In addition to the above chemical assignment of the observed vibrational bands, we also provide the observed peak widths (FWHM). In general, all peaks of the SF constituents are broadened at the BIOLOX
®delta ball surface, but we attribute this behavior to broader peaks in the spectrum of the ball itself, compared to BIOLOX
®forte ball. This conclusion is supported by observation of after-test liquids without presence of the ball in the measurement, when the peaks of all test SF become comparable. As expected, the narrowest peak comes from the aromatic breathing mode of the phenyl group. For brevity, the data are summarized in
Appendix A (
Table A1,
Table A2,
Table A3,
Table A4 and
Table A5).