An overview of drug effects on bone healing on animal research models

the inflammatory mechanism. Therefore, it may 
be hypothesized that some anesthetics such as 
isoflurane and ketamine may influence bone 
fracture healing (Histing et al., 2011). Because 
the true effect of anesthetics on bone healing has 
not been determined to date, their use still 
contributes to the success of millions of 
orthopedics procedures worldwide. 
Conclusions 
This overview showed that the course of 
bone healing may be influenced by several drugs 
and treatment regimes. However, the negative 
effects of several antibiotics and steroids on bone 
healing may be due to their high doses and/or 
long treatments because such effects were absent 
when normal doses and treatment periods were 
applied. The use of such drugs in partients with 
bone fracture(s) is reasonable if the normal doses 
and durations of treatments are followed. In 
contrast, many non-steroidal inflammatory drugs 
may affect bone healing even at their standard 
treatment usage. Hence, these drugs should not 
Modified atmosphere packaging reduces pericarp browning and maintains the quality of ‘Huong Chi’ longan fruit 
986 Vietnam Journal of Agricultural Sciences 
be prescribed for orthopedic animals treatments. 
There is a large body of research demonstrating 
negative effects of chemotherapy agents on bone 
healing. However, a low dose of methotrexate 
may be appropriate for animals that have cancer 
or chronic inflammation and acquire bone 
fracture(s). More well-designed studies are 
needed before a conclusion on the effect of 
anticoagulants and anesthetics on bone healing 
process can be ascertained. The use of some 
drugs is inevitable during the treatment of bone 
fractures, therefore, understandings of their 
effects on bone healing are imperative to increase 
the chances of successful treatments. 
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