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Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance a newly developed nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite, OSTIM following functional implantation in femoral sites in thirty-eight sheep for 1, 2 or 3 months. Ostim 35 was compared to an established calcium phosphate, Alpha BSM.Methods: Biomechanical testing, micro-CT analysis, histological and histomorphological analyses were conducted to compare the treatments including evaluation of bone regeneration level, material degradation, implant biomechanical characteristics.Results: The micro-computed tomography (microCT) analysis and macroscopic observations showed that Ostim seemed to diffuse easily particularly when the defects were created in a cancellous bone area. Alpha BSM remained in the defect.The performance of Ostim was good in terms of mechanical properties that were similar to Alpha BSM and the histological analysis showed that the bone regeneration was better with Ostim than with Alpha BSM. The histomorphometric analysis confirmed the qualitative analysis and showed more bone ingrowth inside the implanted material with Ostim when compared to Alpha BSM at all time points.Conclusions: The successful bone healing with osseous consolidation verifies the importance of the nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite in the treatment of metaphyseal osseous volume defects in the metaphyseal spongiosa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]