Evaluation of bioactive glass and platelet-rich plasma for bone healing in rabbit calvarial defects

Bone regeneration is an important objective in clinical dental practice and has been used for different applications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bioactive glass (BG) for bone healing of surgical calvarial defects in rabbits. Two 8-mm defects were prepared in the parietal bones of ten animals, and the animals were randomly assigned to two groups. In each group, two subgroups were created with five defects each: BC - blood clot, BG, PRP and PRP + BG. Thus, four treatments were performed with five specimens each. The animals were sacrificed after 12 weeks and the specimens were analyzed radiographically, histologically and histomorphometrically. Data were subjected to ANOVA and Tukey's tests (α = 0.05). Outcomes demonstrated that the PRP group had higher bone density (%) values than the groups not treated with PRP (P < 0.05). Histometrically, both groups treated with PRP (PRP: 25.6 ± 9.9; PRP+BG: 25.8 ± 12.4) demonstrated higher percentages of new bone formation than the groups not treated with PRP (BG: 6.1 ± 4.3; BC: 7.8 ± 5.6) (P < 0.05). The results suggested that PRP improved bone repair and that bioactive glass alone, or in association with PRP, did not improve bone healing.