Bone Regeneration at Cortical Bone Defect with Unidirectional Porous Hydroxyapatite In Vivo

Unidirectional porous hydroxyapatite (UDPHAp) was developed which has microstructure in that cross sectionally oval pores 100 ~ 300µm in diameter penetrate through the material, and that is suitable for osteogenesis and angiogenesis.The porosity of the UDPHAp was 75 % and the compression strength was 14 MPa. A cortical bone defect was made at proximal tibia of Japanese white rabbit, and a trapezoidal prisms shaped UDPHAp was implanted. By histlogical evaluation, 2 weeks after implantation, new bone and new capillary was observed inside UDPHAp. Twelve weeks after implantation, new bone formation was observed in 41.6 % of the porous area. The results of this study suggest a great possibility of utilizing it in actual clinical setting as a bone substitution.