In vivo bone formation stimulated by statins

LILIANA R. MISSANA; JORGE JUÁREZ; ANA AYBAR; ANDREA P. RODRIGUEZ; SILVIA S. BORKOSKY; MÓNICA ROSPIDE; SILVIA CARINO

Chiba

Conferencia; IADR 79th General Session & Exhibition; 2001

International Association for Dental Research (IADR)

The advent of extensive and complex osseous reconstructive procedures in orthopedic and craniofacial surgery has highlighted the limitations to obtain an ideal bone repair material (BRM). In a search for agents that enhance bone formation it has been published recently that statins are capable to stimulate bone formation. The aim of this work is to examine the effects of statins-simvastatin on bone repair in critical sized defects (CZD) over the tibia of rats. Forty Sprague Dawley male rats (200 gr) under anesthesia received surgical longitudinal defect of 6 mm at cortical tibial bone. The experimental group was intraperitoneal injected by simvastatin (10mg/kg/day) through five days. The control group received CZD without statins injection. Immediately, postoperatively and at euthanasia, in the experimental sites were radiographed. The animals were killed after one, two, three and six weeks of treatment. The tibiae were fixed in formol buffered 10 %, slowly decalcified and processed in routine manner. The slides were cutting at crosswise and longitudinal planes. The results in control group showed different thickness of bone repair at 2, 3 and 6 weeks. However at one week no bone formation was found. In contrast, the experimental group showed at one week new bone formation of different thickness, but at two, three and six weeks the amount of bone formed was similar to control group. These results suggest that the new bone formed at one week in the CZD was in a simvastatin-dependent manner.