Kd. Chesmel et al., HEALING RESPONSE TO VARIOUS FORMS OF HUMAN DEMINERALIZED BONE-MATRIX IN ATHYMIC RAT CRANIAL DEFECTS, Journal of oral and maxillofacial surgery, 56(7), 1998, pp. 857-863
Purpose: This study compared the ability of a bone autograft and four
distinct forms of human demineralized bone (DBM) to elicit bone repair
in a critical size cranial defect in athymic rats. Materials and Meth
ods: Cranial defects were created in athymic rats and then grafted wit
h either an autograft, rat DBM particles in glycerol (rGel), or one of
four forms of human DBM: 1) hGel; 2) Putty (DBM fibers in glycerol);
3) Sheet (sheet of DBM fibers); or 4) Flex (DBM fiber sheet with glyce
rol). Histology, histomorphometry, and radiographic density of the gra
ft sites were evaluated at 8 weeks. Results: Of the grafted defects, 2
9% to 58% were found to be filled with new bone. The rGel and human fo
rms of DBM stimulated similar amounts of new bone growth in comparison
with the autograft-filled defects. The fiber-based grafts produced th
e largest amounts of new bone. Conclusions: Human DBM in gel, putty an
d sheet forms were found to perform as well as an autograft in a criti
cal size cranial defect in the athymic rat.