Osteostatin potentiates the bioactivity of mesoporous glass scaffolds containing Zn2+ ions in human mesenchymal stem cell cultures

TL;DR

This study develops hierarchical mesoporous bioactive glass scaffolds enriched with osteostatin and Zn2+ ions, demonstrating enhanced osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells for potential bone regeneration.

Contribution

It introduces a novel additive manufacturing approach to create hierarchical scaffolds with combined osteostatin and Zn2+ ions, promoting osteogenesis without external differentiation factors.

Findings

Zinc promotes hMSC colonization of scaffolds.

Osteostatin and Zn2+ together induce osteogenic genes.

Scaffolds support osteogenic differentiation in vitro.

Abstract

There is an urgent need of biosynthetic bone grafts with enhanced osteogenic capacity. In this study, we describe the design of hierarchical meso-macroporous 3D-scaffolds based on mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs), enriched with the peptide osteostatin and Zn2+ ions, and their osteogenic effect on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as a preclinical strategy in bone regeneration. By using additive fabrication techniques, scaffolds exhibiting hierarchical porosity: mesopores , macropores and big channels, were prepared. These MBG scaffolds with or without osteostatin were evaluated in cell cultures of hMSCs. Zinc promoted hMSCs colonization (both the surface and inside) of MBG scaffolds. Moreover, Zn2+ ions and osteostatin together, but not independently, in the scaffolds were found to induce the osteoblast differentiation genes runt related transcription factor-2 (RUNX2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in hMSCs after 7 d of culture in the absence of an osteogenic differentiation-promoting medium. These results add credence to the combined use of zinc and osteostatin as an effective strategy for bone regeneration applications.