Bone regeneration by grafting of cultured human bone.

A 3-mL sample of bone marrow was collected from the iliac bones of 27 orthopedic patients (8 men and 19 women with a mean age of 56.1 years [range, 17 to 76 years]), followed by culture in standard culture medium (minimal essential medium containing 15% fetal bovine serum). In all 7 patients randomly selected from these 27 patients, significant in vitro osteogenic ability of marrow mesenchymal cells was demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy and biochemical analyses. In all 27 cases, to investigate the in vivo osteogenic potential of this human cultured bone, porous ceramics were impregnated with marrow cells and subcultured in osteogenic culture medium (standard medium supplemented with sodium beta-glycerophosphate, vitamin C phosphate, and dexamethasone). After 3 weeks of subculture, the cultured artificial bones of the cultured bone/porous ceramics were grafted into the abdominal cavity of nude mice. Histological and biochemical (alkaline phosphatase activity and human osteocalcin) examinations indicated that the cultured artificial bone possessed significant ability to regenerate bone. This result suggests that the bone-regenerating ability of human marrow cells may not depend on age, and that cultured artificial bone may be useful for bone regeneration treatment if appropriate cultured marrow cells can be successfully prepared.