Allograft is the current gold standard for treating critical-sized bone defects. However, allograft healing is usually compromised partially due to poor host-mediated vascularization. In the efforts towards developing new methods to enhance allograft healing, a non-terminal technique for monitoring the vascularization is needed in pre-clinical mouse models. In this study, we developed a non-invasive instrument based on spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) for longitudinal monitoring of the mouse femoral graft healing. SFDI technique provided total hemoglobin concentration (THC) and oxygen saturation (StO₂) of the graft and the surrounding soft tissues. SFDI measurements were performed from 1 day before to 44 days after graft transplantation. Autograft, another type of bone graft with higher vascularization potential was also measured as a comparison to allograft. For both grafts, the overall temporal changes of the measured THC agreed with the physiological expectations of vascularization timeline during bone healing. A significantly greater increase in THC was observed in the autograft group compared to the allograft group, which agreed with the expectation that allografts have more compromised vascularization.

中文翻译：

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空间频域成像用于纵向监测小鼠股骨移植愈合过程中的血管化

同种异体移植是目前治疗临界尺寸骨缺损的黄金标准。然而，同种异体移植愈合通常部分由于宿主介导的血管化不良而受到损害。在开发增强同种异体移植愈合的新方法的努力中，临床前小鼠模型需要一种监测血管化的非终端技术。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种基于空间频域成像（SFDI）的非侵入性仪器，用于纵向监测小鼠股骨移植物的愈合情况。SFDI 技术提供了移植物和周围软组织的总血红蛋白浓度 (THC) 和氧饱和度 (StO _{2 )。}SFDI 测量在移植前 1 天至移植后 44 天进行。自体移植物是另一种具有较高血管化潜力的骨移植物，也进行了测量，以与同种异体移植物进行比较。对于两种移植物，测得的 THC 的总体时间变化与骨愈合过程中血管化时间线的生理预期一致。与同种异体移植组相比，在自体移植组中观察到 THC 显着增加，这与同种异体移植血管化更受损的预期一致。