Influence of emdogain® treatment onto K₂O incorporated calcium metaphosphate on osteogenic activation

As & part of the efforts to develop a suitable scaffold optimizing bone regeneration that has similar physical properties to bone, we modified calcium metaphosphate (CMP) ceramics with K₂O and evaluated their efficiency as a scaffold for tissue engineered bone tissue regeneration. Macroporous CMP ceramics modified by incorporation of 5% K₂O to improve biodegradability were prepared to have 250 and 450 μm average pore sizes, respectively. The modified CMP ceramics were cultured with mouse primary calvarial osteoblastic cells in osteogenic media for 2 weeks and these cell-CMP ceramic constructs with or without Emdogain® treatment were implanted in the SCID mice subcutaneous pouches. After 1, 2, and 3 weeks, the degree of ectopic bone formation was evaluated. The modified macroporous CMP ceramic-cell constructs treated with Emdogain® induced ectopic bone formation, whereas the modified CMP ceramic-cell constructs without Emdogain® treatment induced no ectopic bone formation. This result suggests that the Emdogain® treatment on cell-scaffold constructs for tissue engineered bone regeneration may be effective for osteogenic activation of attached cells.