Effects of sympathetic innervation loss on mandibular distraction osteogenesis

Sympathetic nerve system has been proved to have important regulative effects to bone mass. However, the role of sympathetic nerve system in distraction osteogenesis (DO) is unclear. Here we show that the sympathetic nerve system plays an important role in mandibular DO. Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups at random. Right-side mandibular DO was performed on the 15 rats in control group (group A). Bilateral transection of cervical sympathetic trunk and right-side mandibular DO were performed on the 15 rats in the experimental group (group B). After operation, quantitative general observations, micro-computed tomography bone morphology analysis, and hematoxylin-eosin staining osseous tissue on new osteotylus in distraction gap were performed at consolidation time of 1, 14, and 28 days. SPSS 12.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. At 1 and 14 days of consolidation time, there was more continuous bone formation in the experimental group than that of the control group as determined by gross observation. Bone formation parameters including bone mineral density, bone volume-total volume ratio, bone trabeculae number as determined by micro-CT, and histological study of the test group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). No significant difference was noted between the 2 groups on consolidation time of 28 days. Our study suggested that the sympathetic innervation loss could improve mandibular DO and new bone formation, and the sympathetic nerve system might negatively regulate the process of DO.