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Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Calvarial Model of Bone Augmentation in Rabbit for Assessment of Bone Growth and Neovascularization in Bone Substitution Materials
Published on: August 13, 2019
Evaluation of novel resorbable membranes for bone augmentation in a rat model
Ni Zeng1, Anne van Leeuwen2, Huipin Yuan3,4
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Objectives:
Our study compared two novel, biodegradable poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) barrier membranes to clinically applied barrier membranes in maintaining volume of block autologous bone grafts in a rat mandible model.
Material And Methods:
Two hundred and forty rats were included in this study. Block autologous bone grafts of 5 mm in diameter were harvested from the mandibular angles and transplanted onto the contralateral side. The bone grafts were either covered with a membrane or left uncovered. The applied membranes included pure PTMC membranes, biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) incorporated PTMC composite membranes, expanded poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (e-PTFE) membranes (Tex) and collagen membranes (Geistlich Bio-Gide). After 2, 4 and 12 weeks, the rat mandibles were retrieved and analysed by histological evaluation and μCT quantification.
Results:
The histological evaluation revealed that in time the block autologous bone graft was well integrated to the recipient bone via gradually maturing newly formed bone and did not show signs of resorption, independent of membrane coverage or types of membrane. μCT quantification showed the volume of the bone graft and recipient bone together was maintained by new bone formation and recipient bone resorption.
Conclusions:
Our study showed that the use of PTMC membranes and PTMC-BCP composite membranes resulted in similar bone remodelling to the collagen membranes and e-PTFE membranes and that the use of barrier membranes did not interfere with bone remodelling of the bone grafts and recipient bones. However, the used barrier membranes seemed not to contribute in maintaining the volume of block autologous bone grafts.
