Experimental study on repairing calvarial bone defect with tissue engineered artificial bone using polymer substrates and osteoblasts

Objective To study the capacity of the tissue engineered bone to repair the defect of the calvarial bone using polymer substrates and osteoblasts.Methods Osteoblasts were enzymatically isolated from the calvarial bone of the 4 week old rabbits,and then seeded into foams of PLGA with a cellular density of 4×10 10 /L.After incubation for 1 week in vitro, the osteoblast polymer constructs were implanted into the calvarial bone defects of the rabbits. The implants were then taken out at 4, 8, 12 weeks postoperation separately, and dissected for macroscopic, X ray, histological and immunohistochemical examinations.Results The osteoblast polymer constructs were progressively replaced by more mature bone tissue as compared with two control groups. The result of image analysis for the immunohistochemical examination at 12 weeks was 92.6 for experimental group and 131.7 or 119.3 for polymer only group and osteoblast transplantation group respectively.Conclusion The tissue engineered bone owned excellent bone repairing ability, and the biodegradable foam of PLGA is a good "matrix" for osteoblasts.