Fig. 9.

Histopathological analysis of bacterial-associated osteolysis and bone integration in an implant-related infection model in rats. (a) Schematic illustration of preparation and staining of the histopathological sections (Created with BioRender.com). (b) Representative images of longitudinal sections of femoral bone. (c) Representative images of transverse sections of femoral bone. (d, e) Quantity of bone-implant contact (BIC) and histopathological scores of longitudinal sections. (f, g) Quantity of BIC and histopathological scores of transverse sections. For the decalcified sections, hematoxylin eosin (H&E) and Masson's trichrome staining were utilized to confirm the bone morphology, TRAP staining was utilized to observe the active osteoclasts, and Giemsa staining was used to confirm the bacterial burden. For the nondecalcified sections, combined Stevenel's blue and Van Gieson (SB-VG) staining was used to evaluate bone integration at the bone-implant interface. Fluorescent calcein staining was used to trace newly formed bone tissues around the implants. The black arrowheads represent osteolysis or cortical bone destruction, the red arrowheads represent TRAP-positive osteoblasts, the black arrows indicate residual bacteria, and the yellow and white arrows indicate newly formed bone tissues around the implants. TR, titanium rods. *p < 0.01 compared with the other groups, **p < 0.01 compared with Groups I and IGG, ***p < 0.05 compared with Group I.