An experimental study on tissue-engineered approach for the repair of bony defect in cleft palate: a lamb model

[Abstract] Objective To explore the feasibility of repairing the bony defect in cleft palate using autologous bone marrow stromal cells with coral in a lamb model.Methods Isolated bone marrow stromal cells were expanded and osteogenically induced in vitro.Coral and osteogenically induced BMSCs in passage three were applied to repair the bone defects in the complete cleft palate,and others served as controls using coral alone to repair the defects.The engineered bone was evaluated by 3D-CT scan on the postoperative week 2,12,24 and 32,and gross and histological examination and Micro-CT measurement on the postoperative week 24 and 32 respectively.Results 3D-CT scan,gross and histological examination showed the cell-coral composite was substituted by new bone in experimental groups and the bony defects were mainly healed,whereas evident degradation was seen in control group,with the cleft not repaired.It was shown that an average of (88.52 ± 10.95)％ and (90.52 ±8.12)％ of each defect volume had been repaired in experimental group on the postoperative week 24 and 32 respectively; while on the control side,only limited bone formed at the periphery of the defect (P ＜ 0.05).Micro-CT measurement demonstrated well the bony-union in experimental group,with the same bone mineral density as normal bone (P ＞0.05).Conclusion The bony defect in cleft palate in a lamb model can be repaired with the tissue-engineered bone generated by autogenous ostegenic BMSCs and coral scaffold. Key words: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell;  Corals;  Tissue engineering;  Cleft palate; Bone regeneration