THE COLLAGEN COMPONENT OF BIOLOGICAL BONE GRAFT SUBSTITUTES PROMOTES ECTOPIC BONE FORMATION BY HUMAN MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS

The presence of collagen on bone graft substitutes favors mesenchymal stem cells proliferation

This study addresses whether bone formation variability of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is cell-intrinsic or biomaterial-dependent and may be improved using biological bone substitutes with and without collagen. Ectopic bone formation of MSCs from nine donors was tested in immune-deficient mice on biological bone substitutes of bovine and equine origin, containing collagen (bHA-C; eHA-C) or not (bHA; eHA). Synthetic beta-TCP was used for comparison. Histology of 8-week explants demonstrated a significant influence of the bone graft substitute (BGS) on donor variability of ectopic bone formation with best results seen for eHA-C (15/17) and beta-TCP (16/18). Bone was of human origin in all groups according to species-specific in situ hybridization, but MSCs from one donor formed no bone with any bone substitute. According to histomorphometry, most neo-bone was formed on eHA-C with significant differences to bHA, eHA and beta-TCP (p<0.001). Collagen-free biological BGSs were inferior to biological BGSs with collagen (p<0.001), while species-origin was of little influence. In conclusion, BGS composition had a strong influence on ectopic bone formation ability of MSCs, and biological BGSs with a collagen component seem most promising to display the strong osteogenic potential of MSCs.