The effects of diabetes on the interface between hydroxyapatite implants and bone in rat tibia.

We examined the influence of diabetes on the implant-bone interface of hydroxyapatite (HA) implants inserted transcortically and extending into the medullary canal of rat tibiae, and quantitatively assessed the differences in bone reaction using an image processing system. Forty male Wistar King A rats (aged 5 weeks) were used in this experiment; they were sacrificed 84 days after implant placement. Toluidine blue-stained undecalcified sections were prepared for histological observation and image analysis, and the labeled sections were observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The HA implants in the bone marrow area in the control group were completely encapsulated with a bone layer, and there were some osteoblast-like cells in the bone lacunae apposing the implant surface. The HA implants in the diabetes-induced (DI) group were partially surrounded with a thin bone layer, and there were some fibroblasts running parallel to the implant surface at areas of no bone contact. Quantitative evaluation indicated that the control group showed significantly higher bone contact rate, bone contact thickness, and bone contact area than the DI group. The DI group showed approximately 30% reduction in the percentage of bone contact and 50% reduction in the thickness and the area of surrounding bone tissue.