Introduction: Bone defects might result in significant damage and require prolonged treatment durations. Consequently, the treatment of bone defects persists to be one of the greatest obstacles in clinical practice. Ideal bone graft material is not available as each one has its pros and cons, that is why tissue regeneration aims to find an effective modality.
Aim of the Work: This research aimed to evaluate the regenerative potential of human gingival mesenchymal stem cells' secretome (hGMSCs' secretome) in rabbits' tibial bone defects.
Materials and Methods: 22 male New Zealand rabbits were used. One defect in each tibia of 6 mm diameter size was created. Defects were classified into three groups: Non-interventional group (Gp1, the defects were left for spontaneous healing), Collagen group (Gp2, the defects were filled with only collagen sponge) and hGMSCs' secretome group (Gp3, the defects were filled with hGMSCs' secretome loaded on collagen sponge). Euthanization occurred after 3 and 6 weeks. Defect areas were extracted and processed for histological examination and histomorphometric analysis of the percent of the newly formed bone as well as mature bone percent.
Results: Bone defects of Gp 3 showed improved healing of the defects histologically as compared to the other two groups in both time intervals. The histomorphometric analysis revealed an increased new bone area percent as well as the amount of mature bone in group 3 as compared to the other two groups in both time intervals which was statistically significant.
Conclusion: hGMSCs' secretome resulted in bone regeneration in-vivo in rabbits' tibial bone defects by increasing both bone formation and maturation.