Is Sclerostin Antibody an Effective Agent for Alveolar Bone Regeneration in Animal Models? A Scoping Review

Objectives: The use of Sclerostin Antibody(Scl-Ab) as a bone anabolic agent has shown significant benefit in bone disorders in preclinical animal models and human clinical trials. The objectives of this scoping review is to determine whether sclerostin antibody is an effective agent for alveolar bone regeneration in animal models and if sclerostin antibody is effective in syndrome/endocrine related diseases which may result in the reduction of alveolar bone quality. Materials and Methods: An online search was conducted to locate published animal studies in the databases such as Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google scholar. The articles published in the international peer-reviewed literature in the English language, from January 2010 up to and including February 2021 are included in this review. The initial search from the mentioned database resulted in 555 articles for review. Further, a search in the references led to additional 4 articles. After title and abstract screening and removing the duplicates, 9 articles were subjected to full text screening to determine their eligibility. Three articles were excluded and the remaining 6 articles were included in the review. The parameters describing bone quality and quantitiy such as, Bone Mineral Density (g/cm2), bone volume fraction (BVF), trabecular thickness in alveolar bone, Percentage of bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV), were determined to ascertain the effects of Scl-Ab on alveolar bone regeneration. Results: Scl-Ab was found to be effective in improving the bone quality and quantity. Scl-Ab has the potential to improve Bone Mineral Density (g/cm2), bone volume fraction (BVF), trabecular thickness in alveolar bone, Percentage of bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV) and other parameters. Scl-Ab can improve the quality of bone in conditions that impairs the quality and density of bone such as osteoporosis, Down syndrome. Conclusions: It was observed that Scl-Ab was useful in improving the quality and quantitiy of bone lost due to local infections such as periodontal diseases as well as reduced bone density associated with diseases and conditions affecting osteoblast activity.