Comparative study of bone regeneration in critical cranial bone defects using bone marrow adult stem cells and calcium phosphate

Abstract Objective To compare the use of Bone Marrow adult Stem Cells (BMSCs), differentiated in vitro into osteoblasts, associated to calcium phosphate versus autogenous bone graft, in the repair process of critical size bone defects. Materials and method On 36 Wistar adult rats, bilateral full-thickness defects on parietal bone were created. The defects were either repaired with calcium phosphate (group I), calcium phosphate + (BMSCs) (group II) or autogenous bone graft (group III), and the opposite side with blood clot (Control Group). In all cases a collagen membrane was used. The animals were sacrificed at 30 and 60 days, and all specimens were collected for further histological and histomorfometric study. Results At 30 days, group III (autogenous bone graft) evidences a statistical difference on bone formation when compared to the experimental and control groups ( p  ≤ 0.05). At 60 days group II (BS + BMSCs) and group III (autogenous bone) showed a similar bone formation and has only a statistical difference when compared to group I (BS) and control group. Conclusion The use of calcium phosphate in conjunction with BMSCs resulted in a similar behavior in the process of bone repair in critical size defects, when compared with autogenous bone graft.