Methods: This experimental animal study was performed on five laboratory pigs. After sedation and scrubbing the surgery zone with Chlorhexidine 1%, bone was harvested from calvaria via three different devices: trephine bur, bone scraper, and rotating bone collector. Bone chips were collected in PBS and transferred to the cell biology laboratory. The viability of osteoblast cells was evaluated by a blinded examiner under light microscopy images.
Results: 15 bone samples were obtained from five pigs with a mean weight of 500 gr. Examinations of cell morphology and viability showed that there was no intact osteoblasts in bone scraper and bone collector groups. There was some evidence of identifying osteoblasts in the samples of terephine bur group.
Conclusions: There was a great difference in osteoblast viability in bone grafts collected through different harvesting techniques. It seemed that a less traumatic technique such as trephine bur could be used for maintaining the viability of osteoblasts in a safer manner. Physical and thermal shock damages are probably two major causes of cell destruction which had happened in more traumatic procedures such as bone scraper and collector.