Impact of the chemical composition of poly-substituted hydroxyapatite particles on the in vitro pro-inflammatory response of macrophages

Is THP-1 viability affected by the crystallinity of nanostructured carbonated hydroxyapatites?

In daily clinical practice, there is a notable variety of synthetic bone substitute, with various resorption rates, different chemical and structural characteristics that influence on bone regeneration and are not suitable for every clinical use. New biomaterials based on nanotechnology have been developed to be bioabsorbable as new bone is formed. This study intends to evaluate THP-1 cell viability when exposed to extracts of unsintered nanostructured carbonated hydroxyapatite (cHA) microspheres processed at 5 and 37°C compared to sintered hydroxyapatite processed at 90°C. cHA shows, in previous studies, biocompatibility, and better bioabsorption rates, consequently, improve the deposition of new bone and tissue repair. The results demonstrated that the tested biomaterials did not activate inflammatory role through THP-1 cells and did not affect activated macrophages independently of their crystallinities, suggesting their safety and biocompatibility. These results are of fundamental importance for the advancement of research on smart materials, especially in what controls the effect of nanostructured cHA microspheres in the biological environment, seems to be a promising biomaterial in clinical application on regenerative medicine.

Novel bone-mimetic nanohydroxyapatite/collagen porous scaffolds biomimetically mineralized from surface silanized mesoporous nanobioglass/collagen hybrid scaffold: Physicochemical, mechanical and in vivo evaluations

Bone-mimetic scaffolds are receiving much interest as such scaffolds exhibit excellent biocompatibility and very close mimic to bone structure and composition. Here, novel bone-mimetic nanohydroxyapatite (nHA)/collagen (Col) porous scaffolds (nHA/Col) were prepared from surface silanized mesoporous nanobioglass (NBG)/Col hybrid scaffold by biomimetic mineralization. Surface silanized mesoporous NBG was prepared by ultrasound-assisted sol-gel method and post treatment with 3-aminopropyltriethylsilane (APTS). The surface silanized mesoporous NBG was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), transmission electron microscopy-selected area electron diffraction (TEM-SAED) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The physicochemical/mechanical characterizations of the scaffolds included scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and TEM imaging of micro/nanostructure, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis of chemical composition, TEM-SAED and X-ray diffraction/Attenuated total Reflectance-Fourier Infrared spectroscopy (XRD/ATR-FTIR) analyses of amorphous-to-crystalline transformations, thermogravimetric/differential scanning calorimetric (TGA/DSC) analyses of thermal behaviour , porosity and dynamic mechanical analyses. The presence of NBG in collagen fibrillar network enabled progressive growth of HA nanocrystals and generation of a novel bone-mimetic hybrid structures while preserving the highly porous structure of collagen scaffold. The crystallinity, crystallite size and crystal morphology of the grown HA nanocrystals were controllable by regulation of the mineralization time. Furthermore, the osteogenic properties of the non-mineralized (NBG/Col) and mineralized (nHA/Col) hybrid porous scaffolds were examined in vivo using critical-sized calvarial bone defect model in rat. Histological and micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) analyses after 6 weeks of implantation revealed that the mineralized scaffolds possess excellent in vivo osteogenic potential compared to the non-mineralized one. Collectively, by using surface silanized mesoporous NBG hybridization with collagen fibrillar network, we successfully introduced a new approach for developing novel bone-mimetic nanohydroxyapatite/collagen hybrid scaffolds that possess significant potential for bone tissue regeneration.

[Effect of human tooth bone graft materials on proliferation and differentiation of mice mononuclear macrophage RAW264.7]

Objective

To investigate the effect of human tooth bone graft materials on the proliferation, differentiation, and morphology of macrophages, and to understand the biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of human tooth bone graft materials.

Methods

Fresh human teeth were collected to prepare human tooth bone graft materials, the adhesion of mouse mononuclear macrophages RAW264.7 to human bone graft materials was observed under confocal microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the morphology of human tooth bone graft materials, OSTEONⅡ synthetic highly resorbable bone grafting materials, and untreated tooth powder (dental particles without preparation reagents). Different components of the extract were prepared in 4 groups: group A (DMEM medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum), group B (human tooth bone graft materials), group C (OSTEONⅡ synthetic highly resorbable bone grafting materials), group D (untreated tooth powder without preparation reagents). The 4 groups of extracts were co-cultured with the cells, and the cytotoxicity was qualitatively determined by observing the cell morphological changes by inverted microscope. The cell proliferation and differentiation results and cell relative proliferation rate were determined by MTT method to quantitatively determine cytotoxicity. The cell viability was detected by trypanosoma blue staining, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α ) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) expressions were detected by ELISA.

Results

Scanning electron microscopy showed that the surface of the human tooth bone graft material and the OSTEONⅡ synthetic highly resorbable bone grafting materials had a uniform pore structure, while the untreated tooth particle collagen fiber structure and the demineralized dentin layer collapsed without specific structure. Confocal microscopy showed that the cells grew well on human tooth bone graft materials. After co-culture with the extract, the morphology and quantity of cells in groups A, B, and C were normal, and the toxic reaction grades were all grade 0, while group D was grade 3 reaction. MTT test showed that the cytotoxicity of groups B and C was grade 0 or 1 at each time point, indicating that the materials were qualified. The cytotoxicity was grade 2 in group D at 1 day after culture, and was grade 4 at 3, 5, and 7 days. Combined with cell morphology analysis, the materials were unqualified. The trypanosoma blue staining showed that the number of cells in groups A, B, and C was significantly higher than that in group D at each time point ( P<0.05), but no significant difference was found among groups A, B, and C ( P<0.05). ELISA test showed that the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in groups A, B, and C were significantly lower than those in group D ( P<0.05), but no significant difference was found among groups A, B, and C ( P<0.05).

Conclusion

The human tooth bone graft materials is co-cultured with mice mononuclear macrophages without cytotoxicity. The extract has no significant effect on cell proliferation and differentiation, does not increase the expression of inflammatory factors, has good biocompatibility, and is expected to be used for clinical bone defect repair.

Biomimetically grown apatite spheres from aggregated bioglass nanoparticles with ultrahigh porosity and surface area imply potential drug delivery and cell engineering applications

Here we communicate the generation of biomimetically grown apatite spheres from aggregated bioglass nanoparticles and the potential properties applicable for drug delivery and cell/tissue engineering. Ion releasing nanoparticulates of bioglass (85%SiO₂-15%CaO) in a mineralizing medium show an intriguing dynamic phenomenon - aggregation, mineralization to apatite, integration and growth into micron-sized (1.5-3μm) spheres. During the progressive ionic dissolution/precipitation reactions, nano-to-micro-morphology, glass-to-crystal composition, and the physico-chemical properties (porosity, surface area, and charge) change dynamically. With increasing reaction period, the apatite becomes more crystallized with increased crystallinity and crystal size, and gets a composition closer to the stoichiometry. The developed microspheres exhibit hierarchical surface nanostructure, negative charge (ς-potential of -20mV), and ultrahigh mesoporosity (mesopore size of 6.1nm, and the resultant surface area of 63.7m²/g and pore volume of 0.153cm³/g) at 14days of mineralization, which are even higher than those of its precursor bioglass nanoparticles. Thanks to these properties, the biomimetic mineral microspheres take up biological molecules effectively, i.e., loading capacity of positive-charged protein is over 10%. Of note, the release is highly sustainable at a constant rate, i.e., profiling almost 'zero-order' kinetics for 4weeks, suggesting the potential usefulness as protein delivery systems. The biomimetic mineral microspheres hold some remnant Si in the core region, and release calcium, phosphate, and silicate ions over the test period, implying the long-term ionic-related therapeutic functions. The mesenchymal stem cells favour the biomimetic spheres with an excellent viability. Due to the merit of sizes (a few micrometers), the spheres can be intercalated into cells, mediating cellular interactions in 3D cell-spheroid engineering, and also can stimulate osteogenic differentiation of cells when incorporated into cell-laden gels. The intriguing properties observed in this study, including biomimetic composition, high mesoporosity, release of therapeutic ions, effective loading and long-term release of proteins, and diverse yet favorable 3D cellular interactions, suggest great potential of the newly developed biomimetic microspheres in biomedical applications, such as drug delivery and cell/tissue engineering.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

This work reports the generation of apatite spheres with a few micrometers in size biomimetically grown from bioactive glass nanoparticles, through a series of intriguing yet unprecedented phenomenon involving aggregation of nanoparticles, mineralization and sphere growth. The mineral microspheres possess some unique physico-chemical properties including mesoporosity, ultrahigh surface area, and therapeutic ionic release. Furthermore, the spheres show excellent loading and delivery capacity of protein molecules, and mediate favorable cellular interactions in 2D and 3D culture conditions, demonstrating a future multifunctional microcarrier platform for the therapeutics delivery and cell/tissue engineering.