The effect of flavone treatment on human otosclerotic ossicle organ cultures.

We studied the effect of 7-isopropoxy-isoflavone (Ipriflavone) on the collagen synthesizing activity in human otosclerotic auditory ossicle samples from whole organ cultures during incubation for 96 h, and compared this effect with that found in normal meatal cortical bone. Ipriflavone led to a dose-dependent increase in the collagen synthesizing activity in both the healthy and the otosclerotic bone samples. At the highest Ipriflavone concentration used (50 microM), collagen synthesis increased 6-fold in the cortical bone and 9-fold in the otosclerotic bone, as compared with untreated controls. These findings indicate that the otosclerotic bone cavities are filled in vitro with organic matrix.