Introduction: The effective induction of angiogenesis is directly related to the success of bone-substitute materials (BSM) for maxillofacial osseous regeneration. Therefore, the addition of pro-angiogenic properties to a commercially available bovine bone-substitute material in combination with hyaluronic acid (BSM+) was compared to the same bone-substitute material without hyaluronic acid (BSM) in an in-vivo model. Materials and Methods: BSM+ and BSM were incubated for six days on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of fertilized chicken eggs. Microscopically, the number of vessels and branching points, the vessel area and vessel length were evaluated. Subsequently, the total vessel area and brightness integration were assessed after immunohistochemical staining (H&E, alphaSMA). Results: In the BSM+ group, a significantly higher number of vessels (p < 0.001), branching points (p = 0.001), total vessel area (p < 0.001) as well as vessel length (p = 0.001) were found in comparison to the BSM group without hyaluronic acid. Immunohistochemically, a significantly increased total vessel area (p < 0.001 for H&E, p = 0.037 for alphaSMA) and brightness integration (p = 0.047) for BSM+ in comparison to the native material were seen. Conclusions: The combination of a xenogenic bone-substitute material with hyaluronic acid significantly induced angiogenesis in vivo. This might lead to a faster integration and an improved healing in clinical situations.
Keywords: angiogenesis; biofunctionalization; chick-embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay; hyaluronic acid; osteogenesis; xenogenic bone-substitute material.