In vitro Evaluation of Short-Term Storage Solution for Bone Grafts in Dental Implant Surgery

SYNOPSIS Bone grafts are frequently applied to patients with severe bone defects as part of implant surgery. Normally, bone particles collected during the drilling process and other fragments obtained from the donor site are temporarily stored in saline. However, it is doubtful whether saline is suitable for implant surgery. To address this issue, we examined the effects of three different solutions on cells of osteoblastic lineage. Rat bone marrow cells were preserved in normal saline, α minimum essential medium, or Hanks' balanced salt solution (HBSS) for 1 hour, after which the cells were inoculated to culture plates. At Days 7, 10 and 14, alkaline phosphatase activity and DNA amount were measured and cell viability was assessed. These results indicate that HBSS has the potential to provide superior storage conditions than saline for osteoblast differentiation. Currently, saline is conventionally used in dental implant surgery; however, HBSS is more suited to maintaining osteogenic cells for bone grafting.