Table 1.

Overview of the Osteoconductive, Osteogenic and Osteoinductive Properties of Graft Materials and Bone Graft Substitutes. Capabilities of each graft and graft substitute along with advantages and disadvantages of the grafts as provided in the current literature. MSC = Mesenchymal Stem Cell; HBV = Hepatitis B Virus; HCV = Hepatitis C Virus.

Graft Material	Osteoconductive Capability	Osteogenic Capability	Osteoinductive Capability	Advantages	Disadvantages
Autogenous Bone Grafts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Complete histocompatibility, no opportunity for infection from graft donor, and promotes strong fusion as being the only graft having all three pillars of spinal fusion	Quality of graft is dependent on patient age and metabolic activity [13], and there is a risk of blood loss and local pain at the extraction site [14]
Bone Marrow Aspirates	No	Yes	Yes	Minimal donor site morbidity	Must be incorporated with scaffolding or allografts [18]
Allografts	Yes	No	Yes	Lacks donor site morbidity and can be combined with MSCs [13]	Requires sterilization, process of sterilization alters the biomechanical properties of bones [22], and there is a possible risk of infection with HBV or HCV [21]
Demineralized Bone Matrices	Yes	No	Yes		Lower fusion rates than autogenous grafts [30,31], higher rates of spinal collapse [32], and suffers from possible contamination during its production process [33]
Ceramics	Yes	No	No	Can be supplemented with osteogenic cells and growth factors [35], has a long shelf life, has zero risk for disease transfer, and is easily and cheaply manufactured [36,37]	Lacks cortical stability and osteogenic properties [24]