Various animal models with bone defects are applied in exploring the therapeutic potential of tissue engineering for bone healing. However, most of them are unable to generate standard defects under biomechanical loading conditions, which is important in evaluating the bone healing effect of bio materials. Compared to traditional bone defect models, the recent box cavity cortical bone defect model offers significant advancements.
It not only provides a standardized bone defect size for more accurate quantification of bone healing, but also allows for the assessment of bio materials under biomechanical loading conditions without the need for additional fixation. Our protocol provides a comprehensive and generalizable approach for investigating intramembranous bone formation within in vivo study of bone regeneration models. This is particularly beneficial for the field of bone tissue engineering.