Preconditioning adipose-derived stem cells with photobiomodulation significantly increased bone healing in a critical size femoral defect in rats.

We assessed the combined impacts of human demineralized bone matrix (hDBM) scaffold, adipose-derived stem cells (hADS), and photobiomodulation (PBM) on bone repair of a critical size femoral defect (CSFD) in 72 rats. The rats were divided into six groups: control (group 1); ADS (group 2 - ADS transplanted into hDBM); PBM (group 3 - PBM-treated CSFDs); ADS + PBM in vivo (group 4 - ADS transplanted into hDBM and the CSFDs were treated with PBM in vivo); ADS + PBM in vitro (group 5 - ADS were treated with PBM in vitro, then seeded into hDBM); and ADS + PBM in vitro+in vivo (group 6 - PBM-treated ADS were seeded into hDBM, and the CSFDs were treated with PBM in vivo. At the anabolic phase (2 weeks after surgery), bone strength parameters of the groups 5, 6, and 4 were statistically greater than the control, ADS, and PBM in vivo groups (all, p = 0.000). Computed tomography (CT) scans during the catabolic phase (6 weeks after surgery) of bone healing revealed that the Hounsfield unit (HU) of CSFD in the groups 2 (p = 0.000) and 5 (p = 0.019) groups were statistically greater than the control group. The groups 5, 4, and 6 had significantly increased bone strength parameters compared with the PBM in vivo, control, and ADS groups (all, p = 0.000). The group 5 was statistically better than the groups 4, and 6 (both, p = 0.000). In vitro preconditioned of hADS with PBM significantly increased bone repair in a rat model of CSFD in vivo.