Composite Biomaterial as a Carrier for Bone-Active Substances for Metaphyseal Tibial Bone Defect Reconstruction in Rats

Restoring lost bone is a major challenge in orthopedic surgery. Currently available treatment strategies have shortcomings, such as risk of infection, nonunion, and excessive resorption. Our primary aim was to study if a commercially available gentamicin-containing composite calcium sulfate/hydroxyapatite biomaterial (GBM) could serve as a carrier for local delivery of bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2) and zoledronic acid (ZA) in a tibia defect model in rats. Empty and allograft-filled defects were used as controls. A 3 × 4-mm metaphyseal bone defect was created in the proximal tibia, and the rats were grouped according to defect filling: (1) Empty, (2) Allograft, (3) GBM, (4) GBM + ZA, and (5) GBM + ZA + BMP-2. In vivo microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) images at 4 weeks showed significantly higher mineralized tissue volume (MV) in the intramedullary defect region and the neocortical/callus region in all GBM-treated groups. After euthanization at 8 weeks, ex vivo micro-CT showed that addition of ZA (GBM + ZA) and BMP-2 (GBM + ZA + BMP-2) mainly increased the neocortical and callus formation, with the highest MV in the combined ZA and BMP-2-treated group. Qualitative histological analysis, verifying the increased neocortical/callus thickness and finding of trabecular bone in all GBM-treated groups, supported that the differences in MV measured with micro-CT in fact represented bone tissue. In conclusion, GBM can serve as a carrier for ZA and BMP-2 leading to increased MV in the neocortex and callus of a metaphyseal bone defect in rats.