Combination treatment with whole body vibration and simvastatin improves the early osseointegration in aged rats

Current research has demonstrated that Simvastatin (SIM) and Whole Body Vibration (WBV) actively contributes to the repair of osteoporotic bones. However, there is still limited knowledge regarding the impact of this combined therapy on osseointegration in elderly individuals. Objective: The objective of this study was to verify the influence of WBV and SIM combination treatment on Titanium implants' fixation strength in aged rats.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats at 24 months old were utilized for this investigation. Titanium rods were surgically inserted into the distal femoral canal on their left side. Subsequently, all animals were randomly assigned to one of four groups: Control group; WBV group; SIM group; and WBV + SIM group. Each group received Saline, Whole Body Vibration, Simvastatin, or a combination of Whole Body Vibration plus Simvastatin treatment until they reached their natural death after 12 weeks. The bilateral femurs and serum samples from these rats were collected for evaluation purposes.

Both WBV and SIM treatments exhibited an increase in bone mass, osseointegration, and push-out force compared to the Control group (all, P < 0.05). Additionally, levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory factors decreased with both treatments when compared to the Control group alone (all, P < 0.05). Notably, the WBV + SIM group displayed superior effects on new bone formation, biomechanical strength, BMP2 expression in bone tissue as well as SOD2 expression regulation related to bone repair genes when compared to other groups involved in this study (all, P < 0.05).

These findings suggest that combining physiotherapy (WBV) with drug therapy (SIM) proves beneficial for enhancing implant fixation in aged rats.