The only way to fully understand how a bone graft is performing is to study various bone grafts growing under controlled conditions. In order to achieve this, the application of bone grafts must be applied to laboratory animals of a specific breed in enough numbers to obtain repeatable findings. Anyone who does animal research understands the effort and expense involved in operating an ongoing animal research program. Not only do you need to maintain the animals in a facility under continual veterinary care, but the documentation required by the FDA and USDA to maintain an animal research vivarium is monumental. The effort and expense are great, but the payback in knowledge is even greater. This is the only way to see bone grafts in action and every tissue sample is a learning experience.
It is because of our work in the vivarium that we feel we have a better understanding of bone graft physiology than most anyone. The better understanding of bone graft physiology, the better the outcome of a better performing bone graft. Today, we are going to give you a look inside our vivarium and the work SteinerBio is doing in order to bring you predictable, safe, and effective bone grafts.
Our Vivarium At Work For You
New Zealand white rabbits, grafting the tibia. Initial incisions to the bone. The tibia allows us to study bone growth in endochondral, bone which contains bone marrow.
The periosteum is dissected.
The first osteotomy is drilled.
Two osteotomies are prepared in each tibia allowing for comparison of 4 bone grafts or 3 grafts and a control.
The top right tibia is grafted with Sinus Graft™ and the bottom with allograft.
The periosteum is closed.
The fascia is closed.
The wound is closed.
On top, the left tibia is grafted with Socket Graft™ and on the bottom with Socket Graft Plus™.
The osteotomy is prepared in the condylar area of the mandible allowing us to study bone growth in intermembranous bone, which has no bone marrow.
After the osteotomy is created, it is grafted with Socket Graft Plus™.
This histology captures bone growth and remodeling at a fascinating time point. The soft tissue components are all basic multicellular units composed of osteoblasts forming bone and osteoclasts removing bone. The basic multicellular units are converting woven bone into lamellar bone. This process is being stimulated because this tissue is under load in a leg bone. This is not seen in sockets because it is not loaded and therefore remodeling does not begin until the implant is placed.
This histology is of the same process as above, however, you can see the basic multicellular units are oriented with osteoclasts on the βTCP granules in the process of resorption and the osteoblasts are over newly formed bone.
The cadaver histology shows intense inflammation and a minimal amount of new mineralization at this time frame. Cadaver bone graft in the process of mineralization has never been published in the literature, so enjoy a first look.
Micro CT scans permit an incredible view of the bone and its physical characteristics:
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Socket Graft Plus™
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Socket Graft™
There is a tremendous amount of literature on bone physiology. Likewise, there is a large amount of research on clinical evaluation of bone grafts, but there is virtually no research on bone graft physiology. We hope to fill that void for you so you not only know how to do a bone graft, but also, what that bone graft is doing in your patient and with an understanding of the type of bone your grafts are producing.
MEMBER:
American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS)