Combined treatment with parathyroid hormone (1–34) and beta-tricalcium phosphate had an additive effect on local bone formation in a rat defect model

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of following combined treatment with parathyroid hormone (1–34) (PTH) and beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) on local bone formation in a rat 3-mm critical-size defect at distal femur. Twelve weeks after bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) and sham operation (sham), all animals were randomly divided into four groups: group OVX, group OVX + β-TCP, group sham, and group sham + β-TCP, then all rats underwent bone defect in the bilateral distal femurs, and β-TCP were implanted into critical-sized defects for group OVX + β-TCP and group sham + β-TCP. After defect operation, all animals were received following subcutaneous injections with PTH (60 μg/kg, three times a week) until death at 4 and 8 weeks. The defected area in distal femurs of rats was harvested for evaluation by histology, micro-CT, and biomechanics. The results of our study show that systemic usage of PTH or local usage of β-TCP can increase the healing of defects in OVX or sham rats. Furthermore, treatments with PTH and β-TCP showed a stronger effect on accelerating the local bone formation than used alone. Osteoporosis can limit the function of PTH and/or β-TCP. The results from our study demonstrate that combination of PTH and β-TCP had an additive effect on local bone formation in non-osteoporosis and/or osteoporosis rats.