The animal model developed in the Soviet Union by Ilizarov has been reliably reproduced by us for the mechanical induction of osteogenesis using slow distraction. Our preliminary studies in six adult dogs indicate that this osteogenesis originates from well-structured intramembranous ossification, with rapid maturation to lamellar bone, indistinguishable from surrounding host bone. Mineralizati...

The membranous bones of the mammalian skull vault arise from discrete condensations of neural crest- and mesodermally-derived cells. Recently, a number of homeodomain transcription factors have been identified as critical regulators of this process. Here, we show that the homeoprotein engrailed 1 (EN1) is expressed during embryonic and perinatal craniofacial bone development, where it localizes...

Bone repair and regeneration is one of the most extensively studied areas in the field of tissue engineering. All of the current tissue engineering approaches to create bone focus on intramembranous ossification, ignoring the other mechanism of bone formation, endochondral ossification. We propose to create a transient cartilage template in vitro, which could serve as an intermediate for bone f...

Although endochondral ossification of the limb and axial skeleton is relatively well-understood, the development of dermal (intramembranous) bone featured by many craniofacial skeletal elements is not nearly as well-characterized. We analyzed the expression domains of a number of markers that have previously been associated with endochondral skeleton development to define the cellular transitio...

In addition to the natural turnover during life, the bones in the skeleton possess the ability to self-repair in response to injury or disease-related bone loss. Based on studies of bone defect models, both processes are largely supported by resident stem cells. In the long bones, the source of skeletal stem cells has been widely investigated over the years, where the major stem cell population...

Hypophosphatemia leads to rickets and osteomalacia, the latter of which results in decreased biomechanical integrity of bones, accompanied by poor fracture healing. Impaired phosphate-dependent apoptosis of hypertrophic chondrocytes is the molecular basis for rickets. However, the underlying pathophysiology of impaired fracture healing has not been characterized previously. To address the role ...

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic bone pathology with prenatal onset, characterized by brittle bones in response to abnormal collagen composition. There is presently no cure for OI. We previously showed that human first trimester fetal blood mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplanted into a murine OI model (oim mice) improved the phenotype. However, the clinical use of fetal MSC is cons...

This review focuses on animal models used to study certain aspects of 'cementless' joint replacement. Implants used in this application are designed to become attached to the host skeleton through either bone ingrowth into porous surfaces or bone apposition (ongrowth) onto other types of surfaces. Biological fixation of cementless joint replacement implants relies on intramembranous bone regene...