MBCP biphasic calcium phosphate granules and tissucol fibrin sealant in rabbit femoral defects: the effect of fibrin on bone ingrowth.

An ageing population implies an increase in bone and dental diseases, which are in turn a source of numerous handicaps. These pathologies are an expensive burden for the European health system. As no specific bioactive materials are efficient enough to cope with this burden, we have to develop an injectable, mouldable, self-hardening bone substitute to support bone tissue reconstruction and augmentation. New, highly bioactive and suitable biomaterials have been developed to replace bone grafts in orthopedic revision and maxillofacial surgery for bone augmentation. These mouldable, self-hardening materials are based on the association of MBCP Biphasic Calcium Phosphate Granules and Tissucol Fibrin Sealant. The in vivo evaluation of ingrowth in relation to the composite was made in an experiment on rabbits. The results indicate that in the presence of fibrin sealant, newly-formed bone developed at a small distance from the surface of the calcium phosphate ceramic. Two different bone apposition processes were identified. Without the fibrin component (MBCP group), bone rested directly on the surface of the granules. This observation is commonly described as osteoconduction in calcium phosphate materials. On the contrary, the presence of the fibrinogen component seemed to modify this standard osteoconduction phenomenon: the newly-formed bone essentially grew at a distance from the surface of the granules, on the fibrillar network, and could be considered as an inductive phenomenon for osteogenic cell differentiation from mesenchymal stem cells.