Abstract
Over the last years, murine in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contributed to a new understanding of tissue composition, regeneration and diseases. Due to artefacts generated by the currently used metal implants, MRI is limited in fracture healing research so far. In this study, we investigated a novel MRI-compatible, ceramic intramedullary fracture implant during bone regeneration in mice. Three-point-bending revealed a higher stiffness of the ceramic material compared to the metal implants. Electron microscopy displayed a rough surface of the ceramic implant that was comparable to standard metal devices and allowed cell attachment and growth of osteoblastic cells. MicroCT-imaging illustrated the development of the callus around the fracture site indicating a regular progressing healing process when using the novel implant. In MRI, different callus tissues and the implant could clearly be distinguished from each other without any artefacts. Monitoring fracture healing using MRI-compatible implants will improve our knowledge of callus tissue regeneration by 3D insights longitudinal in the same living organism, which might also help to reduce the consumption of animals for future fracture healing studies, significantly. Finally, this study may be translated into clinical application to improve our knowledge about human bone regeneration.
Highlights
Over the last years, murine in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contributed to a new understanding of tissue composition, regeneration and diseases
We examined the material device implanted in a mouse femur by ex vivo MRI (Fig. 2B–E) using 3D UTE and 3D gradient-echo (FLASH) sequences
Electron microscopy revealed a multidimensional cell layer with healthy osteoblastic cells embedded in their own extracellular matrix on the surface of the ceramic material comparable to standard metal implants
Summary
Murine in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contributed to a new understanding of tissue composition, regeneration and diseases. We investigated a novel MRI-compatible, ceramic intramedullary fracture implant during bone regeneration in mice. Monitoring fracture healing using MRI-compatible implants will improve our knowledge of callus tissue regeneration by 3D insights longitudinal in the same living organism, which might help to reduce the consumption of animals for future fracture healing studies, significantly. Haffner-Luntzer et al have demonstrated in detail the monitoring of longitudinally bone healing by M RI24 using a ceramic external fixator in mice (RISystems AG, Landquart, Switzerland) They both performed an open osteotomy approach to the femur, which provides a good reproducibility of the bone defect and reflect a more elective bone healing model, lacking the typical epiphenomenon’s of trauma like fracture hematoma or soft tissue damage. In contrast to an osteotomy model stabilized with an external fixator, this model simulates a real fracture situation and a frequently used procedure of stabilization for long bones in trauma surgery offering less invasive surgery and fast weight carrying c apacity[19]
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