3D anatomical and perfusion MRI for longitudinal evaluation of biomaterials for bone regeneration of femoral bone defect in rats

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 6100 - 11
• Main Authors: Ribot, Emeline J., Tournier, Clement, Aid-Launais, Rachida, Koonjoo, Neha, Oliveira, Hugo, Trotier, Aurelien J., Rey, Sylvie, Wecker, Didier, Letourneur, Didier, Amedee Vilamitjana, Joelle, Miraux, Sylvain
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21-07-2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 59/57; 631/1647/245/1628; 631/1647/767/2200; 631/61/2035; 631/61/490; 631/61/54/993; Bioengineering; Biomaterials; Biomedical materials; Bone biomaterials; Bone growth; Bone imaging; Computed tomography; Dextran; Femur; Fucoidan; Gadolinium; Histology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydroxyapatite; Imaging; Life Sciences; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; multidisciplinary; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Osteogenesis; Perfusion; Regeneration; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tissue engineering; Vascularization
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-06258-0

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) appears as a good surrogate to Computed Tomography (CT) scan as it does not involve radiation. In this context, a 3D anatomical and perfusion MR imaging protocol was developed to follow the evolution of bone regeneration and the neo-vascularization in femoral bone defects in rats. For this, three different biomaterials based on Pullulan-Dextran and containing either Fucoidan or HydroxyApatite or both were implanted.
In vivo
MRI,
ex vivo
micro-CT and histology were performed 1, 3 and 5 weeks after implantation. The high spatially resolved (156 × 182 × 195 µm) anatomical images showed a high contrast from the defects filled with biomaterials that decreased over time due to bone formation. The 3D Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE) imaging with high temporal resolution (1 image/19 s) enabled to detect a modification in the Area-Under-The-Gadolinium-Curve over the weeks post implantation. The high sensitivity of MRI enabled to distinguish which biomaterial was the least efficient for bone regeneration, which was confirmed by micro-CT images and by a lower vessel density observed by histology. In conclusion, the methodology developed here highlights the efficiency of longitudinal MRI for tissue engineering as a routine small animal exam.