Effects of implant‐delivered insulin on bone formation in osteoporotic rats

Abstract Osteoporosis is a major cause of age‐related fractures. Healing complications in osteoporotic patients are often associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Stimulation of the implant‐adjacent bone could be beneficial in terms of the surgical outcome. Over the past decade, numerous investigations have implicated insulin in normal bone growth, and recent studies have described the advantages of administering insulin locally to increase bone formation. Therefore, we hypothesized that insulin‐coated titanium implants would increase bone formation in osteoporotic animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of insulin delivered from an implant surface on bone‐related gene expression and bone formation in osteoporotic rats. Characterizations of the surfaces of insulin‐coated and control implants were performed using ellipsometry and interferometry. Forty ovariectomized and four healthy Sprague Dawley rats were used and implants were inserted in the tibias. The systemic effect of insulin was assessed by measuring the blood glucose levels and total body weight. The animals were sacrificed either 1 day or 3 weeks postimplantation. Implant‐adherent cells were analyzed by quantitative real‐time PCR, and the bone adjacent to the implants was examined by microcomputed tomography and histomorphometry. The insulin‐coated implants had no systemic effects. The insulin‐coated samples demonstrated significantly lower expression of the gene for interleukin 1β (p = 0.019) at 1 day, and significantly exhibited more periosteal callus (p = 0.029) at 3 weeks. Locally delivered insulin has potential for promoting bone formation and it exerts potentially anti‐inflammatory effects in osteoporotic rats. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A:2472–2480, 2018.