Purpose: The aim of the present study was to test whether the delivery of enamel matrix derivate (EMD) via synthetic polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogels with and without RGD sequences enhances bone formation in vivo.
Material and methods: In each of 10 rabbits, four titanium cylinders were placed on the external cortical bones of their calvaria. The following four treatment modalities were randomly allocated: One of the four cylinders was left empty (control), the other three were filled with a combination of PEG matrix with hydroxyapatite/tricalciumphosphate (HA/TCP) granules and EMD in a concentration of 100 μg/ml (test 1) or 500 μg/ml (test 2) or 500 μg/ml and RGD peptide (test 3). After 8 weeks, the animals were sacrificed and ground sections were obtained for histological analysis. For statistical analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied (P<0.05).
Results: The histomorphometric analysis revealed a statistically larger area fraction of newly formed bone in the EMD 500/RGD group (54.8±14.5%) compared with the control group (28.7±10.3%) and the EMD 500 group (31.2±14.1%) and non-significantly higher area fraction compared with the EMD 100 group (38.2±10.4%). The percentage of mineralized bone showed no statistically significant differences among the four groups. The mean percentage of mineralized bone was 13.6±3.3% in the control group, 14.2±5.8% in the EMD 100 group, 11.69±5.9% in the EMD 500 group and 15.66±5.2% in the EMD 500/RGD group. No statistically significant difference regarding the bone-to-graft contact between the EMD 100 group (23±15.7%), the EMD 500 group (22.2±14.6%) and the EMD 500/RGD group (21.6±8.8%) was observed.
Conclusions: The combination of a PEG matrix containing EMD with HA/TCP granules had no effect on the formation of mineralized bone tissue in rabbit calvaria. The addition of RGD peptide to the PEG/EMD 500 combination increased the area fraction of newly formed bone compared with the other treatment groups. Further studies are indicated to study a possible synergistic effect of EMD and RGD.
© 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.