title: Experimental model for allograft incorporation and allograft fracture repair.
abstract: This study describes a rat model of allograft osteotomy healing. An intercalary skeletal defect was created in adult Lewis rats by resecting a 2-cm segment of the femur in the diaphysis, including the periosteum and the cuff of muscle layers. The skeletal defects were replaced with fresh-frozen devascularized intercalary allografts from Sprague-Dawley rats. A transverse osteotomy was made in the middle of the allograft. The osteotomized segments were stabilized with an intramedullary threaded Kirschner wire, which allowed immediate ambulation. Radiographic and histological examination at 4 and 8 weeks revealed a characteristic healing process at three different interfaces. Radiographically, the distal metaphyseal host-donor junction healed faster than the proximal diaphyseal host-donor interface. The osteotomy site did not have evidence of an intramembranous or endochondral repair process. This model can serve as a baseline for assessing allograft incorporation and fracture repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. fl127@columbia.edu
authors.forename: F Y
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Hazan
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gebhardt
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Mankin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary; D017102:Fracture Healing; D010027:Osteotomy; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous