TY - JOUR A1 - Warzecha, Jörg A1 - Seebach, Caroline A1 - Flinspach, Armin Niklas A1 - Wenger, Florian A1 - Henrich, Dirk A1 - Marzi, Ingo T1 - Effect of sonic hedgehog/β-TCP composites on bone healing within the critical-sized rat femoral defect T2 - Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine N2 - The creation of entirely synthetically derived bone substitute materials which are as effective as autologous bone grafts is desirable. Osteogenesis involves the concerted action of several proteins within a signaling cascade. Hedgehog proteins act upstream of this cascade, inducing the expression of various bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and promoting physiological bone healing. Therefore, the hypothesis that hedgehog signaling in bone defects improves bone healing more than BMP signaling alone was tested. Recombinant N-terminal sonic hedgehog protein (N-SHh), BMP-2 or a combination of the two was added to β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) and 5-mm femoral midshaft defects in nude rats were filled with these composites. The defects were stabilized with mini-plates. After eight weeks, the animals were sacrificed and the femora were explanted. The radiological evaluation was followed by a three-point bending test and histological examination. BMP-2/β-TCP composites showed a trend of increased stiffness compared with the controls (β-TCP without protein). N-SHh/β-TCP composites had lower stiffness compared with the control group and the N-SHh/BMP-2/β-TCP composites also had lower average stiffness compared with the controls (all not significant). Histomorphometry, however, revealed abundant cartilage and bone core formation in the N-SHh-composite groups. The sum of the new cartilage and bone was highest in the combination group N-SHh/BMP-2 (not significant). The addition of N-SHh to bone substitute materials appears to delay bone healing at the applied concentration and observation time but also showed a trend for higher amounts of ossifying cartilage. KW - bone morphogenetic protein-2 KW - bone substitute material KW - rat femur defect KW - sonic hedgehog KW - three point bending test KW - tricalcium phosphate Y1 - 2013 UR - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/29866 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-298663 SN - 1792-1015 SN - 1792-0981 N1 - Copyright © 2013, Spandidos Publications. This is an open-access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. The article may be redistributed, reproduced, and reused for non-commercial purposes, provided the original source is properly cited VL - 5 SP - 1035 EP - 1039 PB - Spandidos Publ. CY - Athens ER -