Goat Bone Tissue Engineering: Comparing an Intramuscular with a Posterolateral Lumbar Spine Location

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of implant location on bone formation in goats using autologous bone marrow–derived stromal cells in porous calcium phosphate scaffolds. Intramuscular locations were compared to posterolateral spine fusion locations in eight goats. As scaffolds, we used biphasic calcium phosphate porous blocks of 5 × 5 × 5 mm. Cell-seeded implants were compared to empty controls. Bone marrow–derived stromal cells were seeded at 8 million cells per cm 3 scaffold and cultured for 1 week. The follow-up time was 12 weeks. Fluorochromes were administered intravenously at 4, 6, and 8 weeks. Ectopic implants showed 21 ± 3.6% bone formation for the cell seeded and 2.0 ± 3.0% for the controls ( p