Objective: To contrive new ways for repairing bone defects on the basis of the observation of the osteogenic properties of implanted composite made from periosteal-derived osteoblasts (POB) and true bone ceramics (TBC) coated with collagen (TBCc).
Methods: Bovine cancellous bone was calcined and coated with collagen before being mixed with cultured rabbit osteoblast suspension to prepare the composite, which was respectively implanted subcutaneously on the right of the back of BALB/c nude mice and in the muscle pouches in similar sites of rabbits. The control was established by implantation of TBCc in the contralateral sites corresponding to the former implants in both of animals. Samples were obtained from the implant sites 4 weeks later in mice and 8 weeks later in rabbits respectively, and light and electron microscopic observation was performed routinely.
Results: A large number of osteoblasts were seen to grow and proliferate within the TBCc-POB composite where cartilage and bone tissues also generated, which was no observed in the control group.
Conclusion: The osteoblasts in the implanted TBCc-POB composite can survive and develop into cartilage and bone tissues.