[Morphological study of the microcirculation in regional cortical bones affected by internal fixation plates]

In order to elucidate the potential role of bone microcirculation in the development of plate-induced regional osteoporosis, microangiography was used to observe the morphological changes of microcirculation in cortical bones obtained from intact rabbit tibiae on which plates of two different stiffness had been fixed for comparison. The results indicated that both rigid stainless steel plates and less rigid methyl methacrylate plates could induce the bone microcirculation under and opposite the plate to undergo a changing process from early depression to later reactive recruitment. The features of the microcirculation recruitment as shown in vascular number, arrangement and dilatation varied with different stiffness plates and in different locations, and might also have bearing on the formation of osteoporosis.