The effect of hyperlipidemia on bone graft regeneration of peri-implantal created defects in rabbits

AimIt is reported that hyperlipidemia affects quality and density of bone and adversely affects wound healing. The effect of hyperlipidemia on implant osseointegration and peri-implant defect regeneration has not been fully explained. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of hyperlipidemia on the healing potential of the materials used for peri-implant bone regeneration and implant stability.Materials and methodsTwelve male, New Zealand rabbits were used in this study. Half of the rabbits were fed a 2% cholesterol diet for 8weeks to induce hypercholesterolemia. Peri-implant defects (7mm diameter) were created in the tibias of rabbits and placed implants (3.3mm in diameter). This study was conducted as a split-mouth design. Animals were randomly divided into two groups: (1) hypercholesterol+autogenous graft group and hypercholesterol+xenograft group (n=6), and (2) autogenous graft and xenograft groups as controls (n=6). At 8weeks after surgery, the rabbits were euthanized. During implant surgery and at 8weeks, implant stability was measured with resonance frequency analysis (RFA values). Bone-to-implant contact (BIC) was analyzed via histomorphometric analysis.ResultsHyperlipidemic groups showed significantly lower BIC values than those of the control groups at 8weeks (p<0.05). According to baseline RFA readings, there was no significant difference between control and hyperlipidemic groups (p?0.05). The hypercholesterol+autogenous graft group had significantly lower RFA readings and BIC values than the hypercholesterol+xenograft group at 8weeks (p<0.05).ConclusionWithin the limitations of this study, it was found that hyperlipidemia may negatively affect the implant stability especially in the autogenous group and also, may decrease peri-implant bone regeneration. However, further studies are necessary to confirm these results more.