Effect of teriparatide on the healing of mandibular condylar osteochondral defects: a preclinical study

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of teriparatide therapy on the healing of osteochondral defects of the mandibular condylar. Ninety-six rats underwent surgery to create a defect in the condylar head on one side of the mandible, and were divided into two groups. One group received subcutaneous injection of 2 µg/kg/day teriparatide, and the other group received normal saline until sacrifice. On postoperative days 20, 40, and 60, 16 animals from each group were sacrificed, and bone and cartilage healing was histologically evaluated and semiquantitatively scored (1-5). The mean difference in healing score of the cartilaginous and subchondral parts of the defect between the teriparatide and control groups at days 20, 40 and 60 were 0.438 and 0.438, 0.813 and 0.750, and 1.125 and 0.813, respectively. The healing scores of the osteochondral defects in the teriparatide group were significantly (p< 0.05) higher than that in the control group at days 40 and 60. This study has shown beneficial effects of teriparatide on the healing of condylar osteochondral defects in rats. Clinical trials are required to extrapolate these findings to humans.