Other

Hospital for Special Surgery

New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled,

Richard S Bockman

Peter Guidon

Tissue and organ repair, healing and augmentation are enhanced by administering pharmaceutically acceptable group IIIa element-containing compounds in amounts sufficient to provide therapeutic levels of the elements. Group IIIa element-containing compounds mimic the beneficial biological effects of endogenous growth factors to induce cells responsible for repair, healing and augmentation of tissues and organs. Group IIIa element-containing compounds are suitable for a variety of applications such as wound healing, bone fracture repair, treatment of dermatologic conditions and successful bonding of implanted tissue grafts and prostheses.

Methods of enhancing wound healing and tissue repair

Methods of enhancing repair, healing and augmentation of tissues and

Methods of enhancing repair, healing and augmentation of bone implants

Skin, connective and support tissue repair is enhanced and augmented by administering pharmaceutically acceptable gallium-containing compounds in amounts sufficient to provide therapeutic levels of elemental gallium. Gallium-containing compounds mimic the effects of endogenous growth factors to induce cells within these tissues to produce new matrix by increasing the formation of critical structural matrix proteins responsible for skin, support and connective tissue repair, maintenance and augmentation. Gallium-containing compounds are suitable for a variety of applications in wound healing, including dermatologic and cosmetic skin repair, bone fracture repair and successful bonding of implanted tissue grafts and connective and support tissue prostheses. The unique ability of the gallium-containing compounds to increase new matrix component formation and favorably alter the proliferation of specific cell types needed for tissue repair is separate and distinct from gallium's inhibitory activity on matrix-resorbing cells such as bone-resorbing osteoclasts.

In this invention methods are described by which prostaglandins of the E.sub.1 class and compounds that mimic or induce cyclic adenosine monophosphate are used to block collagenase gene expression by cells responsible for connective and support tissue breakdown. The consequence of using pharmaceutically acceptable preparations of prostaglandin E.sub.1, analogs of prostaglandin E.sub.1 or cyclic adenosine monophosphate agonists or inducers of cyclic adenosine monophosphate is to preserve and protect connective and support tissues. These methods provide new treatment modalities useful in protecting humans and animals against connective and support tissue degradation that occurs in aging, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

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Sag Harbor, NY, United States of America

Richard S Bockman