Fig. 7
Changes in vascular network structure and branching statistics in response to implant surface topography at day 7 post-surgery. a, b Images of the vascular network proximal to the TiMA and TiNT surfaces. Green—blood vessels; Silver gray—Ti implant. Each healing volume can be described by three Cartesian coordinates. The X and Y axes are marked (the z-axis would be the depth of the healing volume). c, d Corresponding 3D image skeletons showing the spatial distribution of the vessel segments in two representative HVs. The coordinates were anchored by defining the bottom left corner of the HV as the point of reference (0), and the implant was located at the top right of the HV. The color coding represents the vessel branching number. Scale bar is 200 µm. e, f Box plots represent the quartile distribution of the vessel segment coordinates along the X and Y-axis in TiMA (Black) and TiNT (Green) groups, with the whiskers representing the 0 reference point and the surface of the implant, respectively, on the X and Y axes. The individual data points are superimposed along the whiskers as scatter plots. The higher the value X or Y, the closer the segments were to the lateral surface of the implant. g Comparison of the branching number between TiMA and TiNT groups. n = 8 animals/group/time point. Error bar = median ± IQR. Mann–Whitney test was used to assess the statistical significance of the two medians ***P-value < 0.001
