Histological and Micro-computed Tomography Evalutions of Newly Formed Bone After Using Hydrophobic Resorbable Nanofiber Membranes in Rabbits

Objectives: Synthetic membrane was used as a barrier for periodontal regeneration therapy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of new bone formation of hydrophobic PLGA(85:15) membrane in the rabbit calvarial defects.
Methods: A total of 20 New Zealand rabbits (3.0 – 3.5 kg body weight, 6 months old) were used. Four circular defects (diameter : 8mm) were formed in rabbit calvarium. The membranes were applied to the following four groups. (1) No membrane, (2) Bio-gide® (Geistlich Pharma AG, Wolhusen, Switzerland), (3) hydrophobic PLGA(85:15) membrane, (4) hydrophobic PLGA(85:15) membrane + TCP-containing bone graft (Osteon 3®, Dentium, Seoul, Korea). Membranes were applied on bone defects. Animals were sacrificed at 2 weeks and 6 weeks, and the tissue specimens were analyzed histologically and were evaluated radiologically.
Results: Histologic evaluation showed that the hydrophobic resorbable membranes composed of PLGA(85:15) showed better new bone formation than positive control group.
Radiological evaluation showed that compared to the positive and negative control groups, the hydrophobic PLGA(85:15) with TCP-containing bone graft group was observed 4 times and 10 times more new bone formation, respectively, at 2 weeks.
At 6 weeks, the average amount of new bone formation in the hydrophobic PLGA(85:15) with TCP-containing bone graft group was 1.7 times larger than positive control group. In addition, 3.7 times more new bone formation was observed than the negative control group.
Conclusions: This study showed that hydrophobic PLGA(85:15) membrane could be an important material for bone regeneration with a significant effect of new bone formation.