The faith of tissue engineered bone replacing constructs depends on their early supply with oxygen and nutrients, and thus on a rapid vascularization. Although some models for direct observation of angiogenesis are described, none of them allows the observation of new vessel formation in desmal bone. Therefore, we developed a new chamber model suitable for quantitative in vivo assessment of the vascularization of bone substitutes by intravital fluorescence microscopy. In the parietal calvaria of 32 balb/c mice a critical size defect was set. Porous 3D-poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)-blocks were inserted into 16 osseous defects (groups 3 and 4) while other 16 osseous…
Background: Bone substitutes should ideally promote rapid vascularization, which could be accelerated if these substitutes were vitalized by autologous cells. Although adequate engraftment of porous poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) scaffolds has been demonstrated in the past, it has not yet been investigated how vascularization is influenced by vitalization or, more precisely, by seeding PLGA scaffolds with osteoblast-like cells (OLCs). For this reason, we conducted an in vivo study to assess host angiogenic and inflammatory responses after the implantation of PLGA scaffolds vitalized with isogeneic OLCs. Materials and Methods: OLCs were seeded on collagen-coated PLGA scaffolds that were implanted into dorsal skinfold chambers…