Prefabrication of Tissue Engineered Bone Grafts An Experimental Study

The purpose of this study was to determine whether angiogenesis could Successfully be induced into bone tissue that was engineered by cultured adipose-derived stern cells with porous beta-tricalcium phosphate and whether its biologic properties could be maintained by flap prefabrication technique. Adipose-derived stem cells with porous beta-tricalcium phosphate were implanted into the superficial inferior epigastric artery flap of the Fisher rats. After prefabrication for 8 weeks, the prefabricated flaps were elevated and the pedicles were clamped for 4 hours. The samples were harvested after 2 weeks for analyses. Angiogenesis was significantly increased in the prefabricated groups (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the prefabricated and nonprefabricated groups in terms of the osteogenic capacity (P > 0.5). The promising results obtained with prefabrication in tissue engineered bone grafts encourage the clinical application of this technology. Thus, prefabrication may be a useful technique in any engineered bone tissue transfer.