Functional reconstruction of the mandible with an endocultivated tailored vascularized tissue-engineered bone flap and dental implants

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hendrik Terheyden
• Subject Area: Dentistry, Oral Surgery
• Term: from 2006 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 31045754

In vitro tissue engineering does not lead to transplantable constructs in relevant sizes for replacement of a human mandible. In contrast, endocultivation (tissue engineering in vivo) allows creating a living tissue with a vascular pedicle. Through the research since 1999, using recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 7 (rhBMP-7), we successfully cultivated a vascularized tissue-engineered bone flap in the latissimus dorsi muscle and transplanted the vascularized bone flap to reconstruct the mandible in minipig. Further, with CAD/CAM technique and using titanium mesh cage, rhBMP-7, bovine deproteinized bone mineral and autogenous bone marrow, we successfully cultivated a tailored vascularized tissue-engineered bone flap in a patient and transplanted it to the mandible using the vascular anastomosis technique. Using the mini pigs as model, we now plan further research on the improvement of the vascularisation, the uniform distribution and speed of bone formation through the combined application of rhBMP-7 and recombinant human vascular endothelial growth factor. We plan to investigate the functional remodeling of such tissue-engineered bone tissue after transplantation to the mandible under the influence of loaded and unloaded dental implants.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Dr. Yanming Liu; Professor Dr. Patrick Warnke; Professor Dr. Jörg Wiltfang; Privatdozentin Dr. Corinna Zimmermann