Organ culture modeling of distraction osteogenesis

Bone cell mechanotransduction involves the process by which bone cells sense and coordinate their activity in response to mechanical loading. In vitro and in vivo models are commonly used but may overly simplify (in vitro) or complicate (in vivo) the response making the effects of the load difficult to discern or of questionable clinical relevance. The author previously proposed the use of an organ culture system for mechanotransduction studies. In contrast to previous organ culture research addressing accelerated resorption effects, the goal was to determine if a whole bone organ culture could remain viable in culture for a period of time sufficient to study the short-term response of physiologic loading-induced maintenance/osteogenesis. If successful, the organ culture system would provide more of a biomimetic environment simplifying the systemic response seen in vivo while increasing the biological relevance over in vitro systems. Here we continue with this work. That is, to be useful as a mechanotransduction model, the organ culture system needs to be able to correctly simulate relevant, clinical conditions. In the current paper, the applicability of an organ culture approach to simulate distraction osteogenesis is evaluated and initial effects on bone viability and mechanical performance are presented.