Radiographic Evaluation of Bone Healing Following Oral Administration of Bone Broth and Quail Eggs on Experimentally Drilled Femoral Bone Defect in Rabbits

Introduction: Radiography can monitor bone healing to detect delayed healing, non-union, and mal-union early. This study aimed to monitor bone healing, following oral administration of quail eggs and bone broth (BB) on a bone defect in the rabbit model. Materials and methods: A total of 24 adult white New Zealand rabbits were used in the study. They were divided into four six groups before creating a 3.5 mm bone defect. The first group received a daily oral dose of BB, the second group a daily oral dose of quail egg (QE), and the third group received a daily oral dose combination of BB and quail eggs (BQE). At the same time, the fourth group was given an oral daily dose of distilled water (CN) for 12 weeks. Radiographs were taken at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks postoperative. An experienced radiologist blinded to the groupings scored the radiographs on a scale of 0-4 based on mineral opacity. Results: At week 6, the BB and BQE groups differed significantly from the QE and CN groups. There was a significant difference between the treatments and the control group at weeks 8 and 10. The complete healing of BB and BQE groups occurred before week 10. The healing of two rabbits in the QE group was done before week 10 although the others completed healing before week 12. The CN group did not heal even after week 12. Conclusion: Using radiography, Monitoring the bone healing rate was done successfully. The BQE group showed the fastest healing, followed by BB, and QE groups.