Bone healing in drill hole defects in spontaneously hypertensive male and female rats' femurs. A histological and histometric study.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the bone healing in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and compare the results with normotensive rats, evaluating male and female animals. METHODS A bone drill defect was created in the left femur of 24 SHR (12 males and 12 females) and 24 normotensive rats (12 males and 12 females). The animals were divided into two groups and sacrificed 7 and 21 days after the surgical procedure. After the routine laboratory processing, histological and histometric analysis were carried out and data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukeys test (5%). RESULTS Males and females from the same group had similar histological characteristics. After seven days, all animals presented irregular bone trabeculae. The periosteal osteoblasts were flattened in SHR, and presented a cuboid shape in normotensive animals. After 21 days, the bone defects of all specimens showed a linear closure in all the superficial extension. In addition, SHR presented flattened osteoblasts surrounding the bone trabeculae, while normotensive ones showed cuboidal cells. Statistical analysis of the histometric data indicated similar means between the male and female groups, except for normotensive rats on day 7. In addition, a larger amount of new bone formation was observed in hypertensive when compared to normotensive rats on day 21, in males as well as females. CONCLUSION We conclude that bone healing in SHR was more significant than in normotensive ones, as shown by the histological and histometric evaluation 21 days after surgery.