Table 2.

Rodent bone defect models for testing new substitute biomaterials.

Defect site	Animal	Age/weight	Defect size	Substitute biomaterials
Distal femur	F344/Fisher [83]; male Wistar rat [87]	8 wk [83]; 12–14 wk [87]	2 mm diameter & depth [83]; 2 mm in diameter & 3 mm in length [87]	β-TCP bone graft substitutes [83]; polymer containing TGF-β1 [87]
Midfemur	Female BALB/cJ [84]; male Fisher [88]; nude rat [89]	13–15 wk [84]; 253 g [88]; 325–400 g [89]	2 mm in length [84]; 5 mm in length [88]; 5 mm in length [89]	Composite calcium phosphate & collagen [84]; marrow cells & porous ceramic [88]; BMP–silk composite matrices [89]
Calvaria	Nu/nu mice [85]; nude rat [90]	6–8 wk [85]; 12 wk [90]	4 mm diameter [85]; 8 mm diameter [90]	iPSCs/silk scaffold [85]; PLGA & adipose-derived stem cells [90]

BMP = bone morphogenetic protein; PLGA = poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)