Early injection of OP-1 during distraction osteogenesis accelerates new bone formation in rabbits.
Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is a surgical technique for generating new bone by applying controlled distraction of two bony segments post osteotomy. A limitation of the technique is the long time required for the new bone to consolidate. We investigated the effect of injecting osteogenic protein 1 (OP-1) at the beginning of distraction in a rabbit model of DO. Regenerate bone was evaluated using radiology, densitometry, micro-computed tomography (microCT) and histomorphometry. Immunohistochemsitry was used to evaluate changes in expression of various ligands, growth factors and receptors following OP-1 treatment. Compared to the control, a two-fold increase in bone volume was apparent for treated groups at 3 weeks post injection. An upregulation of almost all of the 41 genes examined was observed. Results suggested that applying OP-1 early during distraction can accelerate bone formation by the activation of numerous pathways. This study provides further insights on strategies to improve bone regeneration rate in DO.
PubMed Abstracts
PubMed Abstracts