Establishing a model of femoral head necrosis by alcohol burning in Cyan-Shank Partridge Chicken: A feasibility analysis / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To date, the pathological mechanism of femoral head necrosis is still unclear, and the existing experimental animal models of femoral head necrosis all have shortcomings. OBJECTIVE: To establish a simple, reliable and stable animal model of femoral head necrosis in a Cyan-Shank Partridge Chicken, with similar biomechanical characteristics to human beings. METHODS: Twenty-four adult young Cyan-Shank Partridge Chickens were randomly divided into experimental group and control group (n=12 per group). One side of the femoral head was randomly selected for operation, and the other side was untreated (untreated group). In the experimental group, alcohol was used to burn the bone tissue in the drilled hole followed by implantation of the original bone. In the control group, the original bone was directly re-implanted after drilling. X-ray and CT scan examinations were performed 1 month after operation. The femoral head was then dissected for general observation, microCT observation and pathological staining. The study protocol was approved by the Animal Ethic Committee of Xuzhou Medical University in China (approval No. AEC2018-020). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: All the Cyan-Shank Partridge Chickens were alive without wrongful death. They could walk upright with no obvious claudication at 1-3 days after operation. X-ray and CT results revealed collapse of the femoral head with unclear trabecular bone in the experimental group. General observation indicated that the femoral head was collapsed with no smooth surface in the experimental group. MicroCT results showed significantly reduced number of bone trabeculae and significantly increased trabecular thickness, trabecular spacing and bone volume fraction in the experimental group as compared with the control and untreated groups (P < 0.05). Pathological staining showed that there was no obvious necrosis but similar shape of the femoral head in the control and untreated groups, but the number of subchondral vessels was less in the control group than the untreated group. However, the cells arranged disorderly and obvious necrosis such as empty lacuna was observed in the experimental group. To conclude, the use of alcohol to burn the bone tissue of the femoral head of the Cyan-Shank Partridge Chicken can be used to establish a typical animal model of femoral head necrosis, which has similar pathological characteristics of human femoral head necrosis.