Effect of Calcium Phosphate Bone Cement and Type I Collagen Mixture on Healing of Segmental Bone Defect in Rabbit Radius

Osteogenesis is one the essential elements of bone regeneration along with the final binding between host bone and grafting material. Collagen type I (Col) is one of the most widely used bone-filling biomaterial in present bone tissue engineering. Calcium phosphate bone cements (CPC) have gained importance in orthopaedics as repair materials for bone defects. A combination of Col/CPC mixture would probably create a composite with both osteoconductive and osteoinductive properties. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the combination of collagen type I and calcium phosphate bone cement mixture on healing of rabbit radius segmental defects. 54 adult male New Zealand white rabbits were used. A segmental bone defect of 10 mm in length was created in the middle of the right radius shaft. The defects were stabilized with miniplate in control group and CPC was used to fill the bone defect in group II and a mixture of CPC/Col was used to fill the bone defect in group III. The animal was evaluated clinically and radiologically in the postoperative period. Rabbits were sacrificed at 4, 8 and 12 weeks after surgery and evaluated histopathologically. Differences observed in radiological findings were not significant between groups but differences observed in histopathological findings were significant between group 3 and groups 1 and 2 and also was significant between group 2 and group 1. The results of this study show that the mixture of collagen type I and calcium phosphate bone cement is a good choice for the healing of segmental bone defects, and provides a more rapid regeneration of bone defects