Guided bone regeneration using a flexible hydroxyapatite patch.

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) is a new method of promoting new bone formation by blocking the proliferation of regenerated connective tissue or providing additional interventions such as direct drug delivery and mechanical support. This in vivo study of bone regeneration in radius compound fractures in rabbits was conducted using a highly flexible scaffold of nanoscale hydroxyapatite (nHAp)/chitosan, termed a "bone patch". A solidification-assisted compression (SAC) method was utilized to fabricate the bone patch, and its in vivo cytotoxicity, bio-absorption, and bone regeneration capacity were evaluated. Four weeks after implantation, new bone formation with abundant active osteoblasts and incompleted degradation of chitosan in the patch were observed without any regeneration of connective tissue, compared with the corresponding implant without a patch. X-ray images showed that the radius with the bone patch had higher opacity than that of the control, which was consistent with the results obtained via histological analysis. Evidently, the nHAp-embedded bone-patch scaffold has considerable potential for application in the field of orthopedics of bone regeneration.