Different effects of implanting vascular bundles and sensory nerve tracts on the expression of neuropeptide receptors in tissue-engineered bone in vivo

We investigated whether implantation of vascular bundles or sensory nerves affected the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide type I receptor (CGRP1R) and neuropeptide Y1 receptor (NPY1R) in tissue-engineered bone. We implanted osteogenically induced bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) with β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) as the scaffold material either with sensory nerve tracts (group I, n = 18), vascular bundles (group II, n = 18) or alone (group III, n = 18) to repair a 1.2 cm femur defect in the rabbit. Better osteogenesis was observed by x-ray and histology in groups I and II than in group III at 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Within the new bone, the mRNA levels of the two neuropeptide receptors determined by real-time PCR increased through week 8, and then gradually decreased (P < 0.05). Expression of the neuropeptide receptors determined by immunohistochemistry was lowest at 4 weeks (P < 0.05) and was higher in group II than in group I (P < 0.05). Expression was significantly higher in groups I and II than in group III at all time points. We conclude that implanting vascular bundles into tissue-engineered bone can significantly improve the early expression of CGRP1R and NPY1R. In contrast, implantation of sensory nerves did not show the same dramatic effect as implantation of vascular bundles.