The bone inductive capacity of various bone transplanting materials used for treatment of experimental bone defects.

The bone defect repairing capacities of autogenous cancellous bone (ACB), decalcified bone (DB), autodigested "low-antigenic" bone matrix (LBM) and preserved bone (PB) were tested in experimental defects in rabbit scapulae. The healing of the defects was most effective with ACB transplants as judged by roentgenologic and microscopic studies. The DB and LBM transplants caused states of healing comparable to each other, and the PB transplants showed the least satisfactory results in this experiment. The ACB, DB and LBM transplants caused bone induction, which resulted in the formation of new bone, subsequent resorption of the transplanted material and rapid reshaping of the callus. The PB transplants caused no bone induction; only some growth of callus on the edges of the defect was observed and pieces of the transplanted material were seen as late as 10 weeks after the operation as dead particles encapsulated by fibrous tissue. The infiltrations of inflammatory cells around the PB transplants indicated a considerable host versus graft reaction whereas this reaction was less with the other materials tested.