The Effect of Fibrillar Collagen on Bony Healing of Calvarial Defect in Rats

골 조직 치유과정에서 Collagen 막의 효과

Many researches have been reported that collagen as cellular stroma, matrix of grafting materials, mediator of agents for the purpose of promoting healing process invivo, but the responses in vivo were seen various. The goal of this experiment is to assess the effect of collagen on bony healing, through histological evaluation of implanted collagen on the calvarial defect in rats. 2-month-old Sprague-Dawley, 24 rats were used and 12 rats assigned to each group of control and test. Defect of 5mm in diameter was made on the calvarial bone with trephine bur. Following thorough saline rinse, defect of control group was left in empty and that of experimental group was filled with fibrillar collagen($COLLATAPE^{(R)}$, COLLA-TEC. INC. U.S.A.) soaked in saline. 3 rats in each group were sacrificed at 3, 7, 14, 21 days after operation respectively, and the tissue blocks were prepared for light microscope with H-E for evaluation of overall healing, with TRAP(tartrate resistant acid phosphatase) for evaluation of osteoclastic activity and with immunohistochemical staining for macrophages. The results were as follows : 1. In the control group, inflammatory responses were disappeared at day 14, but, in the experimental group inflammatory infiltrates were reduced at day 21. Thus, the experimental group showed more severe soft tissue inflammation than control group. 2. Both control and experimental group showed slight appositional growth at day 7 and gradual bony growth to 21th day. But, complete bony healing of the defect was not shown. There was no significant difference in bony healing between control and experimental group 3. Specific response of macrophages for implanted collagen was observed at day 14 in the experimental group. In conclusion, although fibrillar collagen caused inflammation of soft tissue during initial healing period, inflammatory responses by fibrillar collagen didn't inhibit bony regeneration and implanted collagen was biodegradaded by macrophages. Thus, we expect that fibrillar collagen can be used for useful mediator of graft materials or growth factors.