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Extremely Small-magnitude Accelerations Enhance Bone Regeneration: A Preliminary Study

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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research

Abstract

High-frequency, low-magnitude accelerations can be anabolic and anticatabolic to bone. We tested the hypothesis that application of these mechanical signals can accelerate bone regeneration in scaffolded and nonscaffolded calvarial defects. The cranium of experimental rats (n = 8) in which the 5-mm bilateral defects either contained a collagen scaffold or were left empty received oscillatory accelerations (45 Hz, 0.4 g) for 20 minutes per day for 3 weeks. Compared with scaffolded defects in the untreated control group (n = 6), defects with a scaffold and subject to oscillatory accelerations had a 265% greater fractional bone defect area 4 weeks after the surgery. After 8 weeks of healing (1-week recovery, 3 weeks of stimulation, 4 weeks without stimulation), the area (181%), volume (137%), and thickness (53%) of the regenerating tissue in the scaffolded defect were greater in experimental than in control animals. In unscaffolded defects, mechanical stimulation induced an 84% greater bone volume and a 33% greater thickness in the defect. These data provide preliminary evidence that extremely low-level, high-frequency accelerations can enhance osseous regenerative processes, particularly in the presence of a supporting scaffold.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Andrea Trinward for assistance in preparing the figures.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Seoul National University Dental Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

    Soon Jung Hwang MD, DDS & In Sook Kim PhD

  2. School of Dentistry, Brain Korea 21 2nd Program for Craniomaxillofacial Life Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    Soon Jung Hwang MD, DDS & In Sook Kim PhD

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Psychology A Building (3rd Floor), Stony Brook, NY, 11794-2580, USA

    Svetlana Lublinsky MS & Stefan Judex PhD

  4. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul, South Korea

    Young-Kwon Seo PhD

Authors
  1. Soon Jung Hwang MD, DDS
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  2. Svetlana Lublinsky MS
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  3. Young-Kwon Seo PhD
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  4. In Sook Kim PhD
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  5. Stefan Judex PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan Judex PhD.

Additional information

One or more of the authors (SJ) received funding from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, the Whitaker Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.

Each author certifies that the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the State University of New York at Stony Brook approved the animal protocol for this investigation and that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.

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Hwang, S.J., Lublinsky, S., Seo, YK. et al. Extremely Small-magnitude Accelerations Enhance Bone Regeneration: A Preliminary Study. Clin Orthop Relat Res 467, 1083–1091 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0552-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0552-5

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