In vitro osteoblastic differentiation on bioactive glass-based materials

• Grant number: 11/10145-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2011
• End date: July 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Tambasco de Oliveira
• Grantee: Gabriela Caroline Alonso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia de Ribeirão Preto (FORP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Although bioactive glasses can be used as bone substitutes, their application in bone tissue engineering is limited due to the poor mechanical properties they exhibit. One of the strategies to circumvent this limitation is the development of novel bioactive glass-ceramics, obtained by controlled crystallization of bioactive glasses. A recent study from our group showed that the progression of osteogenic cell cultures on a highly bioactive, fully crystallized glass-ceramic of the P2O5-Na2O-CaO-SiO2 system (Biosilicateâ), developed by the Vitreous Materials Laboratory (Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil), results in a statistically significant increase in interfacial mineralized matrix formation (MOURA et al., 2007). As the osteogenic potential of cell cultures directly correlates with the acquisition of the osteoblastic phenotype that takes place in vitro, the aim of the present study is to comparatively evaluate, using PCR Array, the expression profile of genes associated with osteogenesis at the end of the proliferative phase of osteogenic cultures grown on different bioactive glass-based materials. In addition, the morphologic aspects of cultures will also be assessed, using two early osteoblastic differentiation markers, i.e. alkaline phosphatase and bone sialoprotein.