Volume: 55 Issue: 3
Year: 2024, Page: 580-585, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2024.55.3.580-585
Received: March 18, 2024 Accepted: May 16, 2024 Published: Sept. 30, 2024
Critical-sized bone defects are those that would not heal spontaneously despite surgical stabilisation. These defects are treated using autografts, allografts, xenografts and synthetic bone grafts. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of biphasic hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) bioceramic scaffolds in treating critical-sized segmental bone loss in rats. The study was conducted in sixty male Wistar rats aged between 8-12 weeks, weighing 200-250 g body weight with critical-sized defects in the right femur. A six-mm segmental mid-diaphyseal femoral defect was created under general anaesthesia. The bone defect was bridged with biphasic hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) bioceramic scaffolds and retained in position with microplate and screws. Fifteen rats were sacrificed as per the guidelines of CCSEA during the 4th, 8th, 12th and 16th week post-surgery. The treated bone and contralateral femur were harvested and subjected to a three-point bending test, torsion test and compression test to compare the regained strength of the repaired right femur with that of the intact contralateral left femur. From the present study, it was observed that the use of biphasic hydroxyapatite and β-tricalcium phosphate bioceramic scaffolds in the treatment of critical-sized long bone defects in rats resulted in biomechanical properties of the healed right femur greatly superior to the femur with untreated critical-sized diaphyseal defect by sixteenth week post-surgery and was only slightly inferior to the normal intact left femur. The results were suggestive of using biphasic hydroxyapatite and β-tricalcium phosphate bioceramics scaffolds as a safe and promising alternative for the treatment of critical-sized bone defects
Keywords: Beta-tricalcium phosphate, bioceramic scaffold, compression test, hydroxyapatite, three-point bending test and torsion test
Cacciotti, I., 2014. Cationic and anionic substitutions in hydroxyapatite. Handbook of bioceramics and biocomposites. 1-68.
Costa, C.M., Bernardes, G., Sgrott, S.M., Ely, J.B., Porto, L.M. and Acampora, A.J.D. 2011. Proposal for access to the femur in rats. Int. J. Biotech. Mol. Biol. Res. 2: 73-79.
DeCoster, T.A., Gehlert, R.J., Mikola, E.A. and Pirela-Cruz, M.A. 2004. Management of posttraumatic segmental bone defects. J. Am. Acad. Orthop. Surg. 12(1): 28-38.
Dinesh, P. T. 2018. Healing of bone defects treated with triphasic composite bioceramic in rat models. PhD thesis, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Pookode, 40-41.
Ekeland, A., Engesaeter, L.B. and Langeland, N. 1981. Mechanical properties of fractured and intact rat femora evaluated by bending, torsional and tensile tests. Acta orthopaedica Scandinavica. 52(6): 605-613.
Ekeland, A., Engesaeter, L.B. and Langeland, N. 1982. Influence of age on mechanical properties of healing fractures and intact bones in rats. Acta orthopaedica Scandinavica. 53(4): 527-534.
Indrekvam, K., Husby, O.S., Gjerdet, N., Engesaeter, L.B. and Langeland, N. 1991. Age-dependent mechanical properties of rat femur. Measured in vivo and in vitro. Acta orthopaedica Scandinavica. 62(3): 248-52.
Kirker-Head, C., Karageorgiou, V., Hofmann, S., Fajardo, R., Betz, O., Merkle, H. P., Hilbe, M., von Rechenberg, B., McCool, J., Abrahamsen, L., Nazarian, A., Cory, E., Curtis, M., Kaplan, D. andMeinel, L. 2007. BMP-silk composite matrices heal critically sized femoral defects. Bone.41(2): 247-255.
Meyer, R.A., Jr, Tsahakis, P.J., Martin, D.F., Banks, D.M., Harrow, M.E. and Kiebzak, G.M. 2001. Age and ovariectomy impair both the normalization of mechanical properties and the accretion of mineral by the fracture callus in rats. J.Oorthopaedic Res..19(3): 428-435.
Notomi, T., Lee, S.J., Okimoto, N., Okazaki, Y., Takamoto, T., Nakamura, T. and Suzuki, M. 2000. Effects of resistance exercise training on mass, strength, and turnover of bone in growing rats. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 82: 268-274.
Pandey, G. and Sharma, M. 2011. Guidelines of CPCSEA for conducting the experiment on animals. National seminar on progress in life sciences for human welfare. pp. 5-6.
Prodinger, P.M., Foehr, P., Burklein, D., Bissinger, O., Pilge, H., Kreutzer, K., Eisenhart‑Rothe, R.V. and Tischer, T. 2018. Whole bone testing in small animals: systematic characterization of the mechanical properties of different rodent bones available for rat fracture models. Eur. J. Med. Res. 23(8).
Rompen, E., Domken, O., Degidi, M., Pontes, A. E. and Piattelli, A. 2006. The effect of material characteristics, of surface topography and of implant components and connections on soft tissue integration: a literature review. Clin. Oral. Implants. Res. 17(2): 55-67.
Reichert, J.C., 2010. Tissue engineering bone-reconstruction of critical sized segmental bone defects in a large animal model. PhD Thesis. Queensland University of Technology.
Saunders, M.M., Burger, R.B., Kalantari, B., Nichols, A.D. and Witman, C. 2010. Development of a cost-effective torsional unit for rodent long bone assessment. Med. Eng. Phy.. 32(7): 802–807.
Thian, E.S., Huang, J., Vickers, M.E., Best, S.M., Barber, Z.H. and Bonfield, W. 2006. (SiHA) Silicon-substituted hydroxyapatite: A novel calcium phosphate coating for biomedical applications. J. Mater. Sci. 41: 709-717.
Wheeler, D.L., Eschbach, E.J., Montfort, M.J., Maheshwari, P. and Mcloughlin, S.W. 2000. Mechanical strength of fracture callus in osteopenic bone at different phases of healing. J. Orthopaedic trauma. 14(2): 86-92.
© 2024 Unni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Unni, A.R., Syam, K.V., John, M.K.D., Anoop, S., Maya, S. and Dhanush, K.B. 2024. Biomechanical evaluation of healing of critical-sized long bone defects in rats treated with biphasic hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) bioceramic scaffolds. J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 55 (3):580-585