Interface contact profiles of a novel locking plate and its effect on fracture healing in goat / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the interface characteristics of the new-designed locking plate (LP) and limited contact-dynamic compression plate (LC-DCP) and compare the fracture healing between LP and LC-DCP in a goat tibia fracture model.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eight-hole LP and LC-DCP were applied to fix fresh goat tibiae in a reproducible manner. The average pressure, force and interface contact area were calculated using Fuji prescale pressure sensitive film interposed among the plate and the bone and image analysis system. Eight-hole LP and LC-DCP were applied to each tibia in a goat tibia fracture model. The fracture healing was evaluated by X-ray photography at postoperative 8 weeks. The goats were sacrificed at postoperative 12 weeks. Three-point bending test was conducted in the tibiae.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The interface contact of LP system was smaller than that of LC-DCP (P < 0.05), while interface contact force of LP system was higher than that of LC-DCP (P < 0.05). Radiographs revealed that the fracture line disappeared in the LP group, while the fracture line was visible in DCP group at postoperative 8 weeks. At postoperative 12 weeks, the bending strength and bending load of fractured tibia were higher in LP group than in DCP group, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The new-designed locking plate can significantly decrease the contact area on the bone interface, which further provides better fracture healing than conventional plates.</p>

Repair of acutely injured spinal cord through constructing tissue-engineered neural complex in adult rats / 中华创伤杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To construct tissue-engineered neural complex in vitro and study its effect in repairing acutely injured spinal cord in adult rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Neural stem cells were harvested from the spinal cord of embryo rats and propagated in vitro. Then the neural stem cells were seeded into polyglycolic acid scaffolds and co-cultured with extract of embryonic spinal cord in vitro. Immunofluorescence histochemistry and scanning electron microscope were used to observe the microstructure of this complex. Animal model of spine semi-transection was made and tissue-engineered neural complex was implanted by surgical intervention. Six weeks after transplantation, functional evaluation and histochemistry were applied to evaluate the functional recovery and anatomic reconstruction.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The tissue-engineered neural complex had a distinct structure, which contained neonatal neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. After tissue-engineered neural complex was implanted into the injured spinal cord, the cell components such as neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, could survive and keep on developing. The adult rats suffering from spinal cord injury got an obvious neurological recovery in motor skills.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The tissue-engineered neural complex appears to have therapeutic effects on the functional recovery and anatomic reconstruction of the adult rats with spinal cord injury.</p>