Objective: Large bone defects are often treated with autologous vascularized bone grafts. These operations may be associated with donor site morbidities and a limited volume of harvested bone. To overcome such issues, we prefabricated vascularized bone grafts using a combination of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and vascular bundles in a β-tricalcium phosphate ceramic (β-TCP).
Study design: We used 15 New Zealand White rabbits as our experimental animals. Single photon-emission computed tomography and histologic analyses were used to evaluate angiogenesis and new bone formation of the bone grafts.
Results: The results showed that axial vessels not only promoted angiogenesis of the bone grafts, but also enhanced new bone formation.
Conclusion: These findings suggested that the insertion of blood vessels into tissue-engineered bone grafts was an effective strategy for enhancing angiogenesis and bone formation and had potential significance for clinical applications.
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