JOURNAL OF OSAKA DENTAL UNIVERSITY

Vol. 42 No. 1      APRIL - 2008

ISSN: 0475-2058      UBIC: 172

SUMMARY

Scaffolds for bone regeneration need a porous structure with appropriate bioabsorbability and the capacity to guide vascular invasion. We investigated the use of collagen microspheres as a scaffold, focusing on a novel bone formation material that is used in combination with human mesenchymal stem cells. When human osteoblast-like cells that had been induced for 7 days to differentiate into bone were transplanted under the periosteum of the skull of nude rats, marked new bone formation was noted after 4 weeks. When human mesenchymal stem cells were cultured on collagen microspheres under bone differentiation-inducing conditions, marked calcium deposition occurred, confirming that collagen microspheres have good ability to deposit bone matrix. Collagen microspheres may exhibit this marked osteogenic ability not only by maintaining the differentiation character of osteoblast-like cells at a high level and promoting bone matrix deposition, but also by forming a porous structure in which blood vessels can invade spaces between the microspheres. Bone formation materials that combine collagen microspheres as a scaffold with human mesenchymal stem cells have good osteogenic ability, and should be studied for clinical application. (J Osaka Dent Univ 2008; 42: 9-15) Key words: Scaffold; Regenerative medicine.

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