Influence of mechanical fixation on angiogenesis during bone healing process

Abstract

During bone fracture healing, both angiogenesis and mechanical fixation are of great significance. This study aims to obtain 3D structure of vascular network surrounding the fracture site at different healing times using vascular perfusion and micro-CT imaging technology, and to explore the influence of mechanical fixation on 3D structure of vascular network at the fracture site. To achieve the goal, transverse fracture surgery were performed on thirty six SD rats’ right tibias. Half of them (SF) received stable fixation with a newly custom-designed circular external fixator and the rest (NF) didn’t received any fixation devices. The imaging results indicated that compared with NF samples, SF samples contained more vascular distribution along the tibia, inferring a much more similar 3D structure to the CON samples (all of the thirty six rats’ left posterior limbs were taken as control group), which tends to be beneficial to the vascular reconstruction at the fracture site.