effects of different storage media, temperatures and times on osteoblast preservation in autogenous bone grafts: a histomorphometrical analysis

Statement of the problem: autogenous bone graft is the gold standard for bone recon-struction. osteogenic cells must be kept viable in graft for a successful procedure. in ex-tracorporeal preservation of grafts during surgery, three different factors may influence the quality of grafts. these factors include temperature, storage medium, and time interval. purpose: in this study, we evaluated the effects of different storage media, temperatures, and times on osteoblast count in autogenous bone grafts, preserved extracorporeally. materials and method: samples were obtained from iliac crest region in a goat. the grafts were preserved in 36 groups of different storage time, temperature, and medium. samples were histomorphometrically analyzed to determine osteoblast count as the crite-ria of graft quality. results: in almost all samples, room temperature was the most and incubator was the least favorable storage temperatures. in grafts preserved in room temperature, no differ-ence was noted between normal saline and ringer’s lactate solution and in almost all of the samples autologous blood and dry environment were more favorable media than ring-er’s lactate solution. the effect of storage time was highly depended on the combination of temperature and solution. conclusion: the results demonstrated that for preserving as many osteoblasts as possible in bone grafts, the best temperature was room temperature and the least favorable tem-perature was incubator. in addition, when bone fragments were preserved in room temperature, the best medium for graft storage was blood, which showed better results than nor-mal saline and ringer’s lactate solution.