Delayed Endothelial Progenitor Cell Therapy Promotes Bone Defect Repair in a Clinically Relevant Rat Model

Figure 4

Treatment of bone defects with EPCs enhances bone morphometric parameters. (a) Graphical representation of quantitative microCT parameters. When applied in a delayed fashion, EPCs increased trabecular number and decreased trabecular separation compared to control. When applied acutely, EPCs increased bone volume fraction and trabecular number, and decreased trabecular separation. No differences in any parameter were observed between acute and delayed delivery of EPCs. (b) 3D reconstructions and x-y cross sections of representative defects from each group (BV/TV nearest the group mean). Treatment with EPCs, either in an acute or delayed fashion, demonstrated complete defect bridging at 10 weeks postintervention, whereas incomplete union or nonunion was generally observed in the control groups. denotes significant difference between groups ().

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