title: Repair of bone defects treated with autogenous bone graft and low-power laser.
abstract: Because bone healing at the graft site is similar to a fracture repair, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of low-power laser irradiation on the repair of rat skull defects treated with autogenous bone graft. A defect measuring 3 mm in diameter was produced in the left parietal bone and filled with an autogenous bone graft obtained from the right parietal bone. The animals were divided into 3 groups of 20 rats each: nonirradiated control, irradiated with 5.1 J/cm, and irradiated with 10.2 J/cm. The laser (2.4 mW, 735 nm, 3.4 x 10 W/cm, 3-mm spot size) was applied three times per week for 4 weeks. Greater volume of newly formed bone was observed in the irradiated group with 10.2 J/cm. In both irradiated groups, a greater volume of newly formed bone occurred only in the first 2 weeks. The results demonstrated that laser irradiation at the grafted site stimulated osteogenesis during the initial stages of the healing process in a skull defect of the rat and that this effect was dose dependent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Institute of Biology, State University of Campinas, UNICAMP, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosane Vierra
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: José Angelo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Camilli
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D015519:Bone Density; D001861:Bone Regeneration / Q000528:radiation effects*; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy; D008297:Male; D010294:Parietal Bone / Q000601:surgery; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar