The Gephi Network Visualisation of the Guided Bone Regeneration Process Induced with Tissue Engineered Grafts

Abstract

The goal of this study was to create a Gephi network visualisation of the guided bone regeneration induced by tissue-engineered grafts using a histological score. Bioengineered bone grafts were obtained using CD 1 mice mesenchymal stem cells seeded on red deer antler scaffolds. Both basal and complex osteogenic media were used as osteogenic inducers of mesenchymal stem cells in the bioengineering process.Bone defects (5 mm in diameter) in the cranial bone of CD1 mice were surgically induced. Bone reconstruction was not performed in surgically induced bone defects in the control group, consisting of 30 subjects. In the study group, consisting of 60 subjects, bone reconstruction was performed using tissue engineered bone grafts. Subjects were sacrificed 2 and 4 months after surgery. Bone regeneration was assessed using a histological record.Comparative analysis of the bone regeneration process between the groups was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) , network analysis and the visual results were performed using Gephi software.The created Gephi network indicates a more advanced bone regeneration stage for subjects in the study group sacrificed after 4 months.The Gephi networks reveal the time evolution of the bone regeneration process, the nodes size and edges complexity increasing from subjects sacrificed at 2 months to those sacrificed at 4 months.At each stage, two and four months after surgery, bone regeneration was more advanced in the study group than in the control group and it was different for the two osteogenic media. We conclude that bone regeneration in critical size defects, as in our research, cannot be obtained without bone reconstruction.