Effects Of CTGF On Expression Of OPG And VEGF In Fracture Healing

Objective To explore the effects of CTGF on the expression of OPG and VEGF in fracture healing and its mechanism.Methods Forty clean male SD rats aged3to6months were enrolled.After the tibial bone fracture model was established,the SD rats were divided into experimental group and control group with20rats in each group.The experimental group was injected with CTGF at the sites of the bone fracture,the control group was injected with the same volume of normal saline.This was carried once every2days with0.1μg/Kg.Five SD rats of each group were executed at the7d,14d,21d and28d after operation to get the bone callus.Then the bone callus were examined by HE staining,the expressions and the changes in the level of OPG and VEGF were examined by the immunohistochemical staining.Results The HE staining indicated that more chondrocytes were found at early-stage in experimental group.The immunohistochemistry findings showed that the expression levels of OPG and VEGF in the experimental group were higher than in the control group at each period. Expression peak of both OPG and VEGF have extended in the experimental group compared with the controls.This effectively shorten the time interval of both exampression peak.Conclusion CTGF can improve the expression levels of OPG and VEGF in callus tissue during fracture healing, and it can also promote the fracture healing by changing the expression peak of both OPG and VEGF.