Resorption of bone implants. The effect of in vivo incorporation of a diphosphonate and fluoride on resorption.
Weanling isogenously related rats were divided into one control group, one group given a fluoride supplement of 100 parts/10(6) of F- in the drinking water, and a third group given 0.5 mg per kg body weight of phosphorus as dichloromethylene diphosphanic acid (Cl2MDP). The rats were labeled with 1 muCi per g body weight of 3H proline and 40 muCi of 45Ca. Four weeks after labeling, the animals were sacrificed and one scapula was implanted subcutaneously in the back of an isogenously related rat of the same age. The other scapula was stored in a freezer pending analysis. After another 4 weeks the implants were recovered and the radioactivity of each isotope was compared with that of the initially stored scapulae. A 30-40% loss of activity was found, reflecting a considerable loss of bone. However, this loss was significantly lower (P less than 0.01) when Cl2MDP was given to the donor animals, whereas fluoride treatment did not affect the resorption.