Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 22, 2008|Volume 36, Number 19

In the new minimally invasive technique, bone marrow and hormone injections are combined to create new bone that appears structurally and biologically normal.

Yale scientists develop technique for creating new bone that could radically change how fractures are treated

A new technique that combines bone marrow removal and injection of a hormone helps promote rapid formation of new bone at targeted locations in the body, it was reported by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine in the February issue of the journal Tissue Engineering.

“This could radically change the way patients are currently treated for weakened or fractured hips, vertebrae and acute traumatic long bone fractures,” says senior author Agnès Vignery, associate professor of orthopedics.

Currently available treatment requires surgery and artificial materials and often results in imperfect outcomes, says Vignery, adding, “The ideal approach would be to create new bone where it is needed and at a faster rate.”

The study in mice was done in collaboration with Unigene Laboratories Inc. It evaluated the effect of bone marrow removal from particular sites followed by daily injections of anabolic agents such as parathyroid hormone (PTH).

The procedure creates new bone tissue that appears structurally and biologically normal and that endows the targeted bone with improved biomechanical properties at a rate and extent that would not be achievable by anabolic therapy alone, Vignery says.

“We have shown that it is the synergistic effect of mechanical marrow ablation and PTH that allows for this new bone to fill the marrow cavity,” she says.

Vignery notes that additional studies are underway that extend the results of this work in other animals and that will determine whether the newly formed bone can be preserved over a long period of time.

Co-authors include Qing Zhang, Estaban Cuartas, W. Mark Saltzman, Maya Kotas, Mandy Ma, Sonali Rajan, Cécile Chalouni and Jodi Carlson, of Yale, as well as Nozer Mehta, James Gilligan and Hua-Zhu Ke.

— By Jacqueline Weaver

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