The early ingrowth of an autogenous bone inlay into an artificial defect in the rabbit mandibula

The "take" and incorporation of two different autogenous bone grafts to an artificial defect in the rabbit mandibula was studied by means of conventional light microscopy, fluorescence miscroscopy and X-ray photography. The ingrowth rate was compared between a longitudinally split autogenous full thickness humeral bone graft in 21 rabbits and an autogenous full bone graft from the iliac crest in 14 rabbits. The rabbits were sacrificed at weekly intervals right to the end of the first month postoperatively, and morphological analyses were made. It was found that both types of graft became progressively incorporated into the mandibular defect. The humeral graft was better attached to the host bone but the graft cortex was not bone labelled to the same extent as when an iliac graft was used.