Introduction - This study evaluates the ability of a Glass Reinforced Hydroxyapatite Composite (GRHC), in a new microporous pellet formulation with autologous bone marrow concentrate (BMC), to enhance bone regeneration and new bone formation.

Material and Methods - Ninety non-critical sized bone defects were created in the femurs of 9 Merino breed sheep and randomly left unfilled (group A), filled with GRHC pellets alone (group B) or filled with GRHC pellets combined with BMC (group C). The sheep were sacrificed at 3 weeks (3 sheep), 6 weeks (3 sheep) and 12 weeks (3 sheep) and histological analysis (Light Microscopy-LM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and histomorphometric analysis (HM) were performed.

Results - At 3, 6 and 12 weeks, HM revealed an average percentage of new bone of 48, 72, 83%; 25, 73, 80% and 16, 38, 78% for Groups C, B and A respectively (significantly different only at 3 weeks - p<0.05). LM and SEM evaluation revealed earlier formation of well-organized mature lamellar bone in Group C.

Conclusion - This study demonstrates that the addition of a bone marrow concentrate to a glass reinforced hydroxyapatite composite in a pellet formulation promotes early bone healing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Key words: bone healing, bone marrow, bone substitute 



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