Bone tissue response to the bone-like tissue coating on titanium

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mineralized bone nodules, formed in vitro by bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), on the new bone formation in bone defect and on implant surface. The mineralized bone nodules were generated by culture of Lewis rats BMSCs on titanium disks in osteogenic induction medium. The gap-healing animal model was used to create the bone defect facing the disk. The titanium disks in the presence of B group or in the absence of NB group bone nodules were randomly placed into one of the rat distal femurs. This self-control design was used to compare the bone formation in defects and on titanium surface, by Micro-CT, fluorescence staining, histological and histomorphometric analysis. The new bone formation parameters in bone defect area of B group were significantly higher than those of NB group at 2 weeks, including bone volume fraction, trabecular thickness and bone area ratio. The bone nodules pre-stained with Alizarin red disappeared mostly at 2 weeks, while the red fluorescence reappeared in the newly formed bone away from the disk surface. For the bone-implant contact, B group showed lower values than NB group at 2 weeks, but no significant difference was found at 4 weeks. Our results indicate that the mineralized bone nodules can be resorbed in vivo and promote the early osteogenesis in the bone defects, and bone nodules may be applicable for new bone generation in bone defect or modification of tissue engineering scaffold.