Osteoconductive modifications of Ti-implants in a goat defect model: characterization of bone growth with SR muCT and histology.

In this work the osteoconductive potential of coatings for titanium implants using different extracellular matrix components was evaluated. Cylindrical implants with two defined cavities A and B were coated with collagen type I, type III, or RGD peptide, and placed in the femur of goats together with an uncoated reference state. Bone contact and volume were determined after 5 and 12 weeks implantation, using both histomorphometry and synchrotron radiation micro computed tomography (SR muCT) as the methods complement each other: SR muCT allows for a high precision of bone detection due to the large number of analysed slices per sample, while histology offers a better lateral resolution and the possibility of additionally determining bone contact.