title: A Longitudinal Low Dose μCT Analysis of Bone Healing in Mice: A Pilot Study.
abstract: Low dose microcomputed tomography (μCT) is a recently matured technique that enables the study of longitudinal bone healing and the testing of experimental treatments for bone repair. This imaging technique has been used for studying craniofacial repair in mice but not in an orthopedic context. This is mainly due to the size of the defects (approximately 1.0 mm) in long bone, which heal rapidly and may thus negatively impact the assessment of the effectiveness of experimental treatments. We developed a longitudinal low dose μCT scan analysis method combined with a new image segmentation and extraction software using Hounsfield unit (HU) scores to quantitatively monitor bone healing in small femoral cortical defects in live mice. We were able to reproducibly quantify bone healing longitudinally over time with three observers. We used high speed intramedullary reaming to prolong healing in order to circumvent the rapid healing typical of small defects. Bone healing prolongation combined with μCT imaging to study small bone defects in live mice thus shows potential as a promising tool for future preclinical research on bone healing.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Lu-Zhao
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Di
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5547-6546
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Couture
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leblanc
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Yasaman
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Alinejad
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Sherbrooke Molecular Imaging Centre (CIMS), CRCHUS, 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Beaudoin
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Sherbrooke Molecular Imaging Centre (CIMS), CRCHUS, 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lecomte
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Organogénèse Expérimentale (LOEX), Research Center of CHUQ, Enfant-Jésus Hospital, 1401, 18th Street, Quebec City, QC, Canada G1J 1Z4 ; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, 2325 Université Street, Quebec City, QC, Canada G1V 0A6.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berthod
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Department of Chemical and Biotechnological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sherbrooke, 2500 Université Boulevard, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1K 2R1.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Faucheux
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Balg
authors.affiliation: Research Center of CHUS (CRCHUS), 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 ; Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Sherbrooke, 3001, 12th Avenue North, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5674-4285
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grenier