Osteoprogenitor Cell Therapy in an Equine Fracture Model

Objective To compare the efficacy of osteoprogenitors in fibrin glue to fibrin glue alone in bone healing of surgically induced ostectomies of the fourth metacarpal bones in an equine model. Study Design Experimental. Animals Adult horses (n = 10). Methods Segmental ostectomies of the 4th metacarpal bone (MC4) were performed bilaterally in 10 horses. There was 1 treatment and 1 control limb in each horse. Bone defects were randomly injected with either fibrin glue and osteoprogenitor cells or fibrin glue alone. Radiography was performed every week until the study endpoint at 12 weeks. After euthanasia, bone healing was evaluated using radiography and histology. Analysis of radiographic data was conducted using a linear‐mixed model. Analysis of histologic data was conducted using a general linear model. Statistical significance was set at P < .05. Results Radiographic grayscale data as a measure of bone healing revealed no significant difference between treatment and control limbs. Radiographic scoring results also showed that the treatment effect was not significant. Histologic analysis was consistent with radiographic analysis showing no significant difference between the area of bone present in treatment and control limbs. Conclusion Injection of periosteal‐derived osteoprogenitors in a fibrin glue carrier into surgically created ostectomies of MC4 does not accelerate bone healing when compared with fibrin glue alone.