Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound accelerates fracture healing by stimulation of recruitment of both local and circulating osteogenic progenitors

We investigated the effect of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) on the homing of circulating osteogenic progenitors to the fracture site. Parabiotic animals were formed by surgically conjoining a green fluorescent protein (GFP) mouse and a syngeneic wild-type mouse. A transverse femoral fracture was made in the contralateral hind limb of the wild-type partner. The fracture site was exposed to daily LIPUS in the treatment group. Animals without LIPUS treatment served as the control group. Radiological assessment showed that the hard callus area was significantly greater in the LIPUS group than in the control group at 2 and 4 weeks post-fracture. Histomorphometric analysis at the fracture site showed a significant increase of GFP cells in the LIPUS group after 2 weeks (7.5%), compared to the control group (2.4%) (p?