Bone morphogenetic protein and ceramic-induced osteogenesis.

To investigate the relationship between bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) and calcium phosphate ceramic-induced osteogenesis in soft tissues, in vitro and in vivo experiments were performed. In an in vitro study, the ability of different calcium phosphate ceramics to absorb bovine BMP (bBMP) from a bBMP solution was tested. In vivo studies included immunohistochemical BMP staining before bone formation in the ceramics was detected, and the enhancement of bone formation in calcium phosphate ceramics by bBMP. The results were: (1) calcium phosphate ceramics have a strong ability to absorb bBMP; (2) a high BMP concentration reaches inside the ceramic implants before bone formation in soft tissues of domestic pig occurs; (3) by 56% at 50 d and by 23% at 100 d, bBMP enhances bone formation in calcium phosphate ceramics implanted in soft tissues of dogs. The results indicate the BMP plays an important role in calcium phosphate ceramic-induced osteogenesis and that adsorption of native BMP from the body fluids to ceramic implants may be a key step in osteoinduction by calcium phosphate ceramics. Copyright 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers