Treatment of femoral head osteonecrosis with hepatocyte growth factor-modified mesenchymal stem cells

Objective To study whether osteonecrosis of femoral head can be treated with hepatocyte growth factor（hHGF）-modified mesenchymal stem cells（MSC）. Methods A model of femoral head osteonecrosis was established using 40 New Zealand rabbits.The animals were randomly divided into MSC group and HGF/MSC group.Four weeks after the suspension of MSC and HGF/MSC was injected into the drilled holes of femoral head,the rabbits were sacrificed.The histology and immunohistochemistry of the proximal femoral head were observed by Micro-CT for the difference in efficiency of the two treatment modalities on osteonecrosis of femoral head. Results Micro-CT showed that the number of bone trabeculas was greater in HGF/MSC group than in MSC group.The drilled holes of femoral head were disappeared.The BMD（517.41±69.37）mg/ml,TMD（817.61±12.31）mg/ml and BVF（0.61±0.11） were higher in HGF/MSC group than in MSC group.The histology and immunochemistry were also more significantly improved in HGF/MSC group than in MSC group. Conclusion Osteonecrosis of femoral head can be effectively treated with HGF/MSC suspension.