| Bioactive glass is known for its potential as a bone scaffold due to its ability to stimulate osteogenesis and induce bone formation. Broadening this potential to include the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) to bone cells will enhance the healing process in bone defects. The surface of bioactive glass made by the sol-gel technique with the composition of 70% SiO2-30% CaO (mol %) was grafted with 3 peptides sequences in different combinations from proteins (fibronectin BMP-2 and BMP-9) that are known to promote the adhesion, differentiation and osteogenesis process. The experiment was done in two forms, a 2D non-porous thin film and a 3D nano-macroporous structure. hMSCs were grown on the materials for a total of five weeks. The 2D materials were tested for the expression of 3 osteogenic markers (osteopontin, osteocalcin and osteonectin) through immunocytochemistry. The 3D forms were monitored for cell's adhesion, morphology, spreading and proliferation by scanning electron microscopy, in addition to proliferation assay and alkaline phosphatase activity measurement. Results showed that hMSCs poorly adhered to the 2D thin films, but the few cells survived showed enhanced expression of the osteogenic markers. On the 3D form, cells showed enhanced proliferation at week one and more survival of the cells on the materials grafted with the adhesion peptide for the successive weeks in comparison to the positive control samples. Enhanced alkaline phosphatase activity was also detected compared to the negative control samples but were still below the positive control samples. In conclusion, the peptide grafting could increase the effect of bioactive glass but more peptide combinations should be examined to improve the effects on the differentiation and osteogenic activity of the hMSCs. |
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