Local Application of Growth Hormone to Enhance Osseointegration in Osteoporotic Bones: A Morphometric and Densitometric Study

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of local application of growth hormone on osseointegration of dental implants inserted in osteoporotic bones. Materials and Methods: Twenty female New Zealand rabbits were used in this study. Ten were ovariectomized and fed a low-calcium diet for 6 weeks, and the others remained intact. A titanium implant was inserted into each tibia, in both groups. In half of the rabbits, 2 IU of growth hormone was placed into the ostectomy prior to the implant insertion. Two weeks after implant surgery, all animals were sacrificed. Tibiae were dissected from soft tissues, and included in methacrylate to be studied under light microscopy. Bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were measured by morphometric and densitometric analysis, respectively. Multifactorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for statistical evaluation. P .05 was considered to be significant. Results: Ovariectomy induced less BIC and BMD in regions closer to the implant compared with the control group. Local application of growth hormone was able to increase the BIC in the ovariectomized group, with statistically significant differences with respect to the control group (P .01). Regarding the BMD, no statistically significant differences were found. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this experimental study, local application of 2 IU of recombinant human growth hormone at the moment of titanium implant insertion in rabbit tibiae significantly enhanced the BIC around titanium implants 15 days after the implantation in this experimental osteoporotic animal model, without affecting the BMD. Keywords: BMD, bone-to-implant contact, growth hormone, implants, osteoporosis, rabbits