Femoral neck fracture is accompanied by local changes in the content of transforming growth factor-beta1, interleukin-1beta and collagenase activity.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between the time from femoral neck fracture and the content of transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) and collagenase activity in bone samples of the femoral neck. The material consisted of 42 cancellous bone samples from the femoral neck collected from patients after the femoral neck fracture during hip replacement procedure. The content of TGF-beta1, IL-1beta in bone samples was measured with the use of enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) and collagenase activity was measured with spectrofluorimetry. The mean content of TGF-beta1/total protein was 2.29 pg/microg (range from 0.9 to 4.0). The mean content of IL-1beta was 4.93 fg/microg (range from 1.4 to 12.5). The mean activity of collagenase was 49.08 nU/microg (range from 5.6 to 113.7). The content of TGF-beta1 and IL-1beta decreased after the injury. In case of TGF-beta1 the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The activity of collagenase was statistically significantly increasing in relation to time from the fracture (p<0.05). We found no correlation between the content of TGF- beta1, IL-1beta and the activity of collagenase and the age and the sex of the patients. Also, no significant discrepancies were found between the examined cytokines in relation to the bone loss of the femoral neck according to Singh's scale. These results confirm mutual changes of activity between examined cytokines in the area of fractured bone.