Simvastatin-release chitosan scaffold for bone repair process of critical size defects: pre-clinical study in rat calvaria

• Grant number: 20/13352-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2021
• End date: December 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Periodontology
• Principal Investigator: Juliano Milanezi de Almeida
• Grantee: Bianca Bialon Carvalho de Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Bone regeneration of extensive bone defects is a challenging situation both in dentistry and medicine. The augmentation of a considerable volume of bone tissue is, commonly, critical for the success of the proposed rehabilitation. On this aspect, tissue engineering has aroused interest in order to modulate and support regeneration. In this project, a simvastatin-release chitosan scaffold with be evaluated with the objective of to identify its bone repair potential in critical size defects (CSD) surgically created in the calvaria of rats. Sixty male rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus, Wistar) will be used. At day zero, a 5-mm defects will be created in the calvaria of the animals, which will be randomly divided into 3 experimental groups (n=20) in accordance with the treatment to be performed. Group clot, CSD will be filled with blood clot; group Bio-Oss®, CSD will be filled with 12 ¼g of the deproteinized bovine bone Bio-Oss®; group QT-SV, CSD will be filled with a simvastatin-release chitosan scaffold. Ten animals of each group will be euthanized at 15 and 30 days after surgery. The specimens will be collected en bloc and submitted to conventional histologic processing with demineralization and paraffin embedding. Semi-ser 4 ¼m thickness sections will be obtained from the region correspondent to the central portion of the defect and submitted to Hematoxylin and Eosin staining to histologic and histometric analysis of the percentage of newly-formed bone (PNFB), and immunohistochemical processing for identification of bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) and osteocalcin (OCN). Data will be collected and statistically analyzed (p d 0.05).