Author(s)

Jerome G. Saltarrelli Jr., Debi P. Mukherjee

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, 1501 Kings Highway, Shreveport, Louisiana 71130.

Bone loss associated with musculoskeletal trauma or metabolic diseases often require bone grafting. The supply of allograft and auto-graft bones is limited. Hence, development of synthetic bone grafting materials is an active area of research. Chitosan, extracted from chitin present in crawfish shells, was tested as a de-livery vehicle for osteoblasts in a 2-3 mm size defect model in rats. Twenty-seven male Lewis rats, divided into three groups with sacrifice intervals of 3, 6 & 9 months were used. In the experimental samples, a critical size defect was filled with chitosan bone graft paste and fixed with a plate, while in the operated control group, a critical size defect was repaired only by a plate (no paste was applied). An unoperated control group was also included. Bone growth was evaluated histologically by examining undecal-cified and decalcified stained sections. The fe-murs were also examined non-destructively by micro-computed tomography (礐T). Defects filled with chitosan bone graft paste demon-strated superior healing across all time periods compared to unfilled defects as examined by histology and micro-computed tomography. Crawfish chitosan has successfully been used as a cell delivery system for osteoblasts for use as a synthetic bone graft material.

Chitosan, Synthetic Bone Graft, Cell Delivery, Histology, Animal Model Running Head: Chitosan Based Synthetic Bone Graft Material

Saltarrelli Jr., J. and Mukherjee, D. (2009) In vivo testing of a bone graft containing chitosan, calcium sulfate and osteoblasts in a paste form in a critical size defect model in rats. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 2, 24-29. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2009.21005.