Global Gene Expression Profile of Osteoblast-Like Cells Grown on Polyester Copolymer Scaffolds

One of the principal goals in tissue engineering is to produce scaffold materials that will guide cells to differentiate and regenerate functional replacement tissue at the site of injury. Poly(L-lactide-co-1,5-dioxepan-2-one) [Poly(LLA-co-DXO)], a potential scaffolding material for bone tissue engineering, has high hydrophilicity. Previous in vitro studies using human osteoblast-like cells (HOBs) demonstrated greater cytocompatibility and enhanced osteogenic differentiation when HOBs were seeded onto Poly(LLA-co-DXO) compared to Poly(L-lactide) [P(LLA)] scaffolds. The aim of the study was to identify the gene expression profiles of HOBs obtained from alveolar bone and grown on Poly(LLA-co-DXO) biodegradable polymer scaffolds compared to P(LLA) one. Illumina HumanWG-6 v3.0 Expression BeadChips were used for the gene expression analysis. Several genes were found as differentially expressed at 24 h and at 21 days. Expression of genes related to cell adhesion, cytoskeleton, antiapoptosis, proliferation, and bone mineralization was influenced by adding the monomer 1,5-dioxepan-2-one to the l-lactide. Genes related to three biological pathways involving Integrin, Notch, and Ras were found to be upregulated. For selected genes, results were confirmed by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Further, calcium content analysis revealed a significant enhancement of calcium deposition on both tested scaffolds. This observation was confirmed by Von Kossa and Alizarin Red S staining. Findings of this study are relevant to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the behavior of HOBs in bone regenerative procedure.