Combined use of micro computed tomography and histology to evaluate the regenerative capacity of bone grafting materials

摘要

Pre-clinical animal models are commonly used to evaluate the osteogenic potential of bone grafting materials in-vivo. Based on the histology analysis, the currently commercially available bone grafting materials show comparable results with respect to biocompatibility, incorporation and remodeling. In the present pilot study we introduce a methodology to compare calcium phosphate-based bone grafting materials from world-leading companies in clinical trials and analyze them by means of established histology and synchrotron radiation-based micro computed tomography (SR$\mu$CT). The results indicate that the morphology of the bony structures depends on the selected bone grafting material and that an arbitrarily selected histological slice can lead to misleading conclusions. Complementary $\mu$CT data can become the basis for the identification of a representative slice. The registration of the selected histological slice with its counterpart in the three-dimensional $\mu$CT dataset was performed both visually and automatically with well comparable results. This registration allows for the compilation of a joint histogram to identify anatomical features, which can neither be extracted from histology nor from $\mu$CT data on their own. Accordingly, $\mu$CT will become an integral part of studies on the efficacy of bone augmentation materials and beyond.