Fracture Healing Research—Shift towards In Vitro Modeling?
Moritz Pfeiffenberger,
Alexandra Damerau,
Annemarie Lang,
Frank Buttgereit,
Paula Hoff,
Timo Gaber
Affiliations
Moritz Pfeiffenberger
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Alexandra Damerau
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Annemarie Lang
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Frank Buttgereit
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Paula Hoff
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Timo Gaber
Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Fractures are one of the most frequently occurring traumatic events worldwide. Approximately 10% of fractures lead to bone healing disorders, resulting in strain for affected patients and enormous costs for society. In order to shed light into underlying mechanisms of bone regeneration (habitual or disturbed), and to develop new therapeutic strategies, various in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro models can be applied. Undeniably, in vivo models include the systemic and biological situation. However, transferability towards the human patient along with ethical concerns regarding in vivo models have to be considered. Fostered by enormous technical improvements, such as bioreactors, on-a-chip-technologies and bone tissue engineering, sophisticated in vitro models are of rising interest. These models offer the possibility to use human cells from individual donors, complex cell systems and 3D models, therefore bridging the transferability gap, providing a platform for the introduction of personalized precision medicine and finally sparing animals. Facing diverse processes during fracture healing and thus various scientific opportunities, the reliability of results oftentimes depends on the choice of an appropriate model. Hence, we here focus on categorizing available models with respect to the requirements of the scientific approach.
