Freeze-Dried Platelet-Rich Plasma Accelerates Bone Union with Adequate Rigidity in Posterolateral Lumbar Fusion Surgery Model in Rats

Fresh platelet-rich plasma (PRP) accelerates bone union in rat model. However, fresh PRP has a short half-life. We suggested freeze-dried PRP (FD-PRP) prepared in advance and investigated its efficacy in vivo. Spinal posterolateral fusion was performed on 8-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats divided into six groups based on the graft materials (n = 10 per group): sham control, artificial bone (A hydroxyapatite-collagen composite) -alone, autologous bone, artificial bone + fresh-PRP, artificial bone + FD-PRP preserved 8 weeks, and artificial bone + human recombinant bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP) as a positive control. At 4 and 8 weeks after the surgery, we investigated their bone union-related characteristics including amount of bone formation, histological characteristics of trabecular bone at remodeling site, and biomechanical strength on 3-point bending. Comparable radiological bone union was confirmed at 4 weeks after surgery in 80% of the FD-PRP groups, which was earlier than in other groups (p < 0.05). Histologically, the trabecular bone had thinner and more branches in the FD-PRP. Moreover, the biomechanical strength was comparable to that of autologous bone. FD-PRP accelerated bone union at a rate comparable to that of fresh PRP and BMP by remodeling the bone with thinner, more tangled, and rigid trabecular bone.