Native bovine hydroxyapatite powder, demineralised bone matrix powder, and purified bone collagen membranes are efficient in repair of critical-sized rat calvarial defects

Abstract

Here we evaluated the efficacy of bone repair using various native bovine biomaterials (refined hydroxyapatite (HA), demineralised bonematrix (DBM), and purified bone collagen (COLL) as comparedwith commercially available bonemineral and bone autografts. We employed a conventional critical-sized (8 mm diameter) rat calvarial defect model (6-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats, n = 72 in total). The artificial defect was repaired using HA, DBM, COLL, commercially available bone mineral powder, bone calvarial autograft, or remained unfilled (n = 12 animals per group). Rats were euthanised 4 or 12 weeks postimplantation (n = 6 per time point) with the subsequent examination to assess the extent, volume, area, and mineral density of the repaired tissue by means of microcomputed tomography and hematoxylin and eosin staining. Bovine HA and DBM powder exhibited excellent repair capability similar to the autografts and commercially available bone mineral powder while COLL showed higher bone repair rate. We suggest that HA and DBM powder obtained from bovine bone tissue can be equally applied for the repair of bone defects and demonstrate sufficient potential to be implemented into clinical studies.