OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of novel porous calcium phosphate cement (CPC) scaffoldings on attachment, proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs).

METHODSBMSCs of Beagle dogs were implanted and cultured with CPC scaffoldings in vitro, tricalcium phosphate (TCP) and poly (lactide-coglycolide) (PLGA) scaffoldings as controls. The attachment, proliferation and differentiation of BMSCs were detected through morphological characters, growth curve and the semi-quantitative detection of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin (OC) activity.

RESULTSCell morphology and growth curve illustrated that BMSCs attached to and grown better on the surface of novel porous CPC scaffoldings than that of PLGA group (P < 0.05). Semi-quantitative analysis of ALP showed that ALP expression level in BMSCs on the CPC and TCP group were significantly higher than that of the PLGA group (P < 0.05), the CPC group was slightly higher than the TCP group, but no significant difference was found between the two groups (P > 0.05). The staining and semi-quantitative analysis results of OC demonstrated that calcium deposition of the PLGA group was significantly less than the CPC and TCP group on both observation point (P < 0.05), but no significant difference between the CPC and TCP group (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe novel porous CPC material used in this study has good biocompatibility similar to TCP but much better than PLGA which is favorable of BMSCs adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. The novel porous CPC material is a suitable scaffolding for BMSCs to fabricate tissue-engineered bone in vitro.