Surface characteristics of three commercially available grafts and adhesion of stem cells to these grafts.

Abstract

Reconstruction of bone defects is often performed using bone autografts. However, limitations associated with the use of autografts led to the use of bone substitute materials. The purpose of this study was to compare the surface characteristics of three commercially available grafts namely allografts, xenografts and alloplasts. This in vitro study was conducted on beta-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) alloplast, a mixture of demineralized bone matrix and mineralized bone allograft (DBM&MBA) and natural bovine bone mineral (NBBM) xenograft. Presence of apatite groups on the surface of samples was assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) while the presence of functional groups was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Also, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) were cultured on the surface of samples and their adhesion was evaluated under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The FTIR showed a relatively similar pattern for NBBM and TCP samples and a different pattern in DBM&MBA. The results of XRD analysis also showed similarities between NBBM and TCP with sharper peaks than the DBM&MBA sample. The SEM micrographs showed that at 24 hours, no cell was detectable on the surface of NBBM sample; whereas, elongated cells were noted on the surface of TCP and DBM&MBA samples. The patterns of β-TCP and NBBM samples in XRD and FTIR spectroscopy showed high resemblance but they had different behaviors with respect to cell adhesion.