Towards osteogenic bioengineering of dental pulp stem induced by sodium fluoride on hydroxyapatite based biodegradable polymeric scaffold

Abstract

Hydroxylapatite (HA) and sodium fluoride (NaF) are expected to have enhanced osteoblast proliferation and differentiation ability and as a result gained much attention in tissue-engineering applications. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of NaFand/or HA addition to three-dimensional (3D) nanofibrous poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL)/poly lactic acide (PLA) scaffolds on Human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) proliferation, osteoblast differentiation and mineralization. For this purpose, PCL and PLA homopolymers and HA nanoparticles were synthesized. Then a 3D nanofibrous composite scaffold of PCL/PLA/HA was prepared by electrospinning method with fiber diameter in the range of around 120-300 nm. NaF was added to media during DPSCs culturing step. Cell proliferation was assessed over a 14 days period. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to evaluate the osteogenic induction. The in vitro biocompatibility tests performed with DPSCs showed excellent cell attachment (SEM), proliferation (MTT assay), and mineralization (Alizarin Red). QRT-PCR results, demonstrated significantly superior osteogenesis markers in group of DPSCs bioengineered in PCL/PLA/HA and PCL/PLA/HA/NaF. Simultaneous application of HA in nanofibrous PCL/PLA scaffolds and NaF in the media showed synergistic effects on the growth and differentiation of DPSCs, and consequently seems to be a promising scaffold for tissue regeneration in the oral cavity.