Regulation of the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in vitro and osteogenesis in vivo by microenvironmental modification of titanium alloy surfaces

Addition of nanoscaled bioinspired surface features: A revolution for bone related implants and scaffolds?

Our expanding ability to handle the "literally invisible" building blocks of our world has started to provoke a seismic shift on the technology, environment and health sectors of our society. During the last two decades, it has become increasingly evident that the "nano-sized" subunits composing many materials—living, natural and synthetic—are becoming more and more accessible for predefined manipulations at the nanosize scale. The use of equally nanoscale sized or functionalised tools may, therefore, grant us unprecedented prospects to achieve many therapeutic aims. In the past decade it became clear that nano-scale surface topography significantly influences cell behaviour and may, potentially, be utilised as a powerful tool to enhance the bioactivity and/ or integration of implanted devices. In this review, we briefly outline the state of the art and some of the current approaches and concepts for the future utilisation of nanotechnology to create biomimetic implantable medical devices and scaffolds for in vivo and in vitro tissue engineering,with a focus on bone. Based on current knowledge it must be concluded that not the materials and surfaces themselves but the systematic biological evaluation of these new material concepts represent the bottleneck for new biomedical product development based on nanotechnological principles.

TCF3, a novel positive regulator of osteogenesis, plays a crucial role in miR-17 modulating the diverse effect of canonical Wnt signaling in different microenvironments

Wnt signaling pathways are a highly conserved pathway, which plays an important role from the embryonic development to bone formation. The effect of Wnt pathway on osteogenesis relies on their cellular environment and the expression of target genes. However, the molecular mechanism of that remains unclear. On the basis of the preliminary results, we observed the contrary effect of canonical Wnt signaling on osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) in the different culture environment. Furthermore, we found that the expression level of miR-17 was also varied with the change in the culture environment. Therefore, we hypothesized that miR-17 and canonical Wnt signaling may have potential interactions, particularly the inner regulation relationship in different microenvironments. In this paper, we observed that canonical Wnt signaling promoted osteogenesis of PDLSCs in the fully culture medium, while inhibited it in the osteogenic differentiation medium. Interestingly, alteration in the expression level of endogenous miR-17 could partially reverse the different effect of canonical Wnt signaling. Furthermore, the role of miR-17 was because of its target gene TCF3 (transcription factor 3), a key transcription factor of canonical Wnt pathway. Overexpression of TCF3 attenuated the effect of miR-17 on modulating canonical Wnt signaling. Finally, we elucidated that TCF3 enhanced osteogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. In brief, the different level of miR-17 was the main cause of the different effect of canonical Wnt signaling, and TCF3 was the crucial node of miR-17–canonial Wnt signaling regulation loop. This understanding of microRNAs regulating signaling pathways in different microenvironments may pave the way for fine-tuning the process of osteogenesis in bone-related disorders.

Cytotoxicity and antibacterial property of titanium alloy coated with silver nanoparticle-containing polyelectrolyte multilayer

Silver nanoparticle (AgNP) was incorporated into dopamine-modified alginate/chitosan (DAL/CHI) polyelectrolyte multilayer to modify the surface of titanium alloy and improve its antibacterial property. Scanning electron microscopy showed that AgNP with the size of 50 nm embedded in DAL/CHI multilayers homogeneously. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicated that the nanoparticles were silver (0) with peaks at 368.4 and 374.4 eV, respectively. The formation of silver (0) without the addition of reductants was due to the self-polymerization of dopamine, which can reduce the silver cation into neutral metal. The polyelectrolyte multilayer coating enhanced the wettability of titanium alloy and promoted the fibroblast proliferation significantly, which could be attributed to the excellent biocompatibility of DAL/CHI. Despite the slight fall of L929 cell activity after AgNP incorporation, AgNP-DAL/CHI multilayer inhibited the growth of both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The above results demonstrate that dopamine decoration is a simple and effective way to induce the in-situ formation of AgNP within polyelectrolyte multilayer. Furthermore, the AgNP-containing multilayer considerably enhances the antibacterial activity of titanium alloy. The fabrication of AgNP-DAL/CHI multilayer on the surface of titanium implant might have great potential in orthopedic use.

The bone tissue compatibility of a new Ti35Nb2Ta3Zr alloy with a low Young's modulus

Titanium (Ti) alloys of the β-type are highly attractive metallic materials for biomedical applications due to their low elastic modulus, high corrosion resistance and notable biocompatibility. A new β-type Ti35Nb2Ta3Zr alloy with a low Young's modulus of approximately 48 GPa was previously fabricated. In the present study, the biocompatibility of this alloy was evaluated. In an in vitro assay, the Ti35Nb2Ta3Zr alloy did not markedly affect the adhesion of MG63 osteoblast cells, but it increased their proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium deposition and mRNA expression of osteogenic genes (i.e., ALP, osteocalcin, osteopontin). In an in vivo study, no marked histological differences were observed between the new bone formed on the surface of Ti35Nb2Ta3Zr and that formed on the surface of control Ti6Al4V rods placed in the medullary canal of rabbit femurs. Additionally, no significant differences were observed in the failure load of Ti35Nb2Ta3Zr and Ti6Al4V in pull-out tests. In conclusion, the Ti35Nb2Ta3Zr alloy with a lower elastic modulus closer to that of human bone has significant bone tissue compatibility equal to that of Ti6Al4V, which has been widely used in orthopedic applications.

Control of osteoblast cells adhesion and spreading by microcontact printing of extracellular matrix protein patterns

In this study, we report a simple method for creating extracellular matrix (ECM) protein patterns to control osteoblast cell adhesion and spreading. The fibronectin patterns are directly produced on polystyrene (PS) surfaces by microcontact printing (μCP). Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images show that protein patterns are successfully fabricated on PS surfaces. Newborn rat osteoblast cells are then seeded on these protein patterns and cultured for 4 days. The results demonstrate that osteoblast cells preferentially adhere and grow on the protein areas. The pattern dimensions have significant influences on cell behaviors, including cell adhesion, spreading, distribution, and growth direction. Therefore, it is possible to control the cell morphology and even cell function by carefully designing the pattern shapes and sizes. The present study suggests that the ECM protein patterns can be used to modify biomaterials' surfaces and spatially control the morphologies of osteoblast cells. We believe that our work could find applications for creating patterned bioactive surfaces to control cell adhesion, spreading and cell function. It may be helpful for the development of novel implantable biomaterials, such as artificial bone implants, where control of interfacial biological interactions between implants and cells would be preferable.