Evaluation of bone regeneration in the large defect of canine mandible using undifferentiated adipose stem cells loaded on gelatin carrier

Abstract

Background: Large mandibular defects are as difficult reconstructive challenges for oral and maxillofacial surgeons. Cell therapy as an alternative technique, may be enhancing the speed of bone regeneration. This study aimed to investigate bone regeneration in large defects of dog mandibles using allogenic adipose derived stem cells on gelatin foam as a cell carrier. Methods: Tissue engineering phase consisted of a sampling of adult dogs’ adipose tissue, that can be easily isolated from adipose stem cells (ASCs) of the dogs, ASCs were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium(DMEM) containing penicillin and streptomycin, characterization of dog ASCs, and transplantation of ASCs into gelatin. In the next step, six dogs were included in this experimental study. They were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. The samples in both groups underwent surgery under general anesthesia to create uniform 3-cm bony defects. The samples in both groups were reconstructed with titanium reconstruction plates and screws. In the treatment group, a large bone gap filled with ASCs (5×106) was seeded on gelatin (ASCs). In the control group, bony defects were filled with a cell delivery carrier without ASCs. Six months after transplantation, the mandibles of the animals were evaluated by CT scan imaging, and the results were quantified through the Hounsfield unit (HU). The data were analyzed with t-test. Results: Before transplantation, the nature of the stem cells was confirmed by the expression of CD44 and CD105 cell markers at 71.9% and 89.3%, respectively, a lack of the expression of CD45 cell marker at 2.2%. Evaluation of CT scan images showed significantly higher bone repair in the ASCs group (920.25±572.92 HU) than in the control group (-94.746± 08.42). Conclusion: The bone regeneration of the ASCs group was significantly higher than that in the control group.