Peri-Implant Bone Adaptation Under Dynamic Mechanical Stimulation: The Guinea Pig Model

The present work is part of a larger project to analyse adaptive bone remodelling around implants that receive controlled mechanical stimulation immediately post-operatively. Percutaneous implants in the tibiae of guinea pigs are used as an implant model [1]. For evaluation, microfocus computed tomography (μCT) can be used to complement or partially substitute conventional histology [2]. In the studied model implant system, μCT-based histomorphometry can be used as a substitute for histology in regions at a distance of more than 1000 μm from the titanium implant. Within this limitation, a significant effect of mechanical stimulation can be observed also under in vivo μCT conditions. The optimally osteogenic stimulus in the studied model should cause a strain rate amplitude of 1600 microstrain/s or less in the cortical bone at a distance of 2.3 mm from the implant centre. Future work will include a detailed study of strains in the peri-implant bone with in vivo micro CT-based finite element models.