Anchoring dental implant in tissue-engineered bone using composite scaffold: a preliminary study in nude mouse model

The purpose of this study was to fabricate a tissue-engineered bone graft anchoring dental implant with bone marrow stromal cell (bMSC) seeded coral-implant composite scaffold.

Titanium dental implants (3 mm in diameter) were inserted into the cylinder coral scaffolds (5 mm in diameter and 1 mm in wall thickness). bMSCs were isolated from iliac bone marrow of adult New Zealand White rabbits, induced by dexamethasone and seeded into the composite scaffold at the density of 2 x 10 8 /mL in 200 muL medium. Nine cell coral-implant complexes were incubated in vitro for 5 days. One complex was processed for scanning electronic microscopy. The other 8 complexes, together with 4 coral scaffold without cell acting as control, were implanted subcutaneously into nude mice back. At 1 and 2 months after implantation, 4 specimens from the experiment group and 2 specimens from the control group were harvested respectively. New bone restoration and new bone integration with dental implant were evaluated by gross inspection, manual handling test, radiographic examination, and histologic observation.

Specimens harvested at 2 months after implantation were red and similar to native bone. Manual handling test showed that dental implants were fixed in the newly formed bone. Radiographic examination showed that most of the coral scaffold had been absorbed. Bone density x-ray shadow could be observed around the dental implant. Histologic examination showed that large amount of new bone formed around the dental implants and integrated well with the implants in some area. In the control group no bone formation was observed both macroscopically and microscopically.

The results of the study suggested that the tissue-engineered bone of bMSCs seeded natural coral-implant composite scaffold is promising for dental implant anchoring, which has positive implication for clinical jaw reconstruction.