Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether bone marrow grafted percutanously has an effect on the healing of bony defects filled with bone-derived xenografts. Materials and Methods: Eighty New Zealand albino rabbits with anaverage age of approximately 1 year were divided into 4 groups, each consisting of 20 animals. Bony defect was induced in the ulnas of all rabbits by excising a 1-cm-long bone segment from the 3-cm proximal segment of the right distal radioulnar joint. Bone defects were treated simultaneously with bovine-derived xenograft, a combination of xenograft and bone marrow or on the 5th day following the filling of the segment with the xenograft and autogenous bone graft. Treatment results obtained for each application type were compared with each other with regard to the radiological, biochemical and histological criteria. Results: No significant statistical differences were determined between the groups in their 15th-day radiographs. The group treated with only xenograft from the first month onwards presented with the worst results and was significantly different from the other groups with respect to all evaluation criteria. No statistically significant difference was determined between rabbits treated with xenograft and bone marrow combination and with autogenous bone graft. Conclusions: This study revealed that when xenografts are combined with autologous bone marrow, their incorporation into the host bed accelerates significantly.

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Primary muscle hydatidosis is very rare. Rupture and spreading of the cyst contents by improper handling may later cause secondary cyst or allergic reactions. Preoperative recognition of a hydatid cyst is therefore critical. It often presents as a soft-tissue mass, however, and pre-operative recognition of this rare entity is clearly difficult. Here, a case of primary hydatidosis affecting the gracilis muscle is presented, and the magnetic resonance imaging, clinical and pathological findings are described.

Angiogenesis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases, but the possible role of angiogenesis in Behçet's disease (BD) has not yet been studied. The aim of this study was to determine angiostatin levels in patients with BD and the role of angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of the disease. Thirty-seven patients with BD (mean age: 28·6±5·4 years, mean disease duration: 9·3±3·7 years) and 18 healthy controls were enrolled to the study. Twenty-four patients were in active and 13 patients were in inactive stage of the disease. The mean serum angiostatin level of patients with BD was 113·9±53·2 and 60·7±20·1 ng/ml in healthy controls. The mean serum angiostatin level was 142·7±43·1 ng/ml in active and 86·9±15·5 ng/ml in inactive patients with BD. Serum angiostatin levels were significantly high in patients with BD compared with healthy controls (P<0·001) and it was significantly high in active patients compared with inactive patients with BD (P<0·001). In inactive patients with BD, serum angiostatin concentrations were found to be higher compared with healthy controls (P<0·01). In active BD patients, the mean serum angiostatin level was correlated with the deep vein thrombosis (r = 0·482, P = 0·05), uveitis (r = 0·582, P = 0·01), and arthritis (r = 0·492, P = 0·05). According to these results; elevated serum angiostatin levels in patients with BD suggest the possible role of angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of the disease and its high levels in inactive Behçet's patients is related with the continuous activation of the disease even in the subclinical period.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical of physiological signifi cance. The changes in the production of NO during the fracture healing process are not well known. This clinical prospective study was planned to determine these changes in patients with fractured long bone(s), who underwent surgery in the 3rd week after fracture. The patients were divided into two groups: 20 patients with an isolated femoral fracture and 20 patients with multiple fractures, including a femoral fracture. Venous blood was drawn from the healthy volunteers (n = 20) once, and from the patients seven times during 21 days after fracture. NO level was measured as nitrite in each serum sample. The serum NO levels at all measurements of the patients were signifi cantly higher than those of the control subjects. The timedependent changes in the NO levels were similar in both patient groups. The serum NO levels were highest in the fi rst 6 hrs, and then decreased to the lowest level on the 3rd day. Subsequently, there was an increasing trend on the 5th, 7th and 14th days. At all times of the measurements, the NO levels were higher in patients with multiple fractures than in those with the femoral fracture, with the signifi cant difference observed at the 6 hrs and on the 7th day. The NO levels were decreased on the 21st day after surgery. The present study suggests that NO production may be increased in considerable amounts during the fi rst 2 weeks of fracture healing, particularly in the fi rst 6 hrs.human; bone; fracture; blood; nitric oxide © 2007 Tohoku University Medical PressNitric oxide (NO) is a physiological free radical, synthesized from the amino acid L-arginine by the 3 NO synthase (NOS) isoforms; neuronal NOS (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS) and inducible NOS (iNOS). It functions in vascular regulation, host immune defense, neurotransmission, and other systems. While some diseases, like vascular dysfunctions, impair NO production, some diseases, like septic schock, cerebral infarction, diabetes mellitus and neurodegenerative disorders, augment NO production (Mori and Gotoh 2004). It is not clear how NO affects bone cells. Some studies show that NO has a biphasic effect on bone cell activity. It has been stated that moderate concentrations of NO produced by eNOS in the bone is necessary for normal osteoblast growth and fracture healing (Ralston 1997;Corbett et al. 1999). However, it was suggested that high concentrations of NO produced by cytokine-induced iNOS activity may inhibit the