Europium Doped Monodispersed Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles Regulate the Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The osteogenic differentiation of marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is very important for bone tissue regeneration. Nanoscale biomaterials have shown promising effect on the osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. In this study, we investigate the effect of europium doped bioactive glass nanoparticles (BGNEu) on the osteogenic differentiation of human MSCs (hMSCs). The cell attachment and proliferation, alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP), collagen I secretion (COL I) and osteoblasts-related gene expressions (Alp, Col I), Osteopontin (Opn), runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) were studied after culture with BGNEu (1%, 3%, 5% in mol%) with and without osteogenic inducing factors. The results showed that BGNEu3 significantly enhanced hMSCs osteogenic differentiation (ALP activity and COL I secretion) by activating osteogenic genes expressions (Alp, Col I, Opn, Runx2) in absence of osteogenic inducing factor. Enhanced osteogenic genes levels were also found by combining BGNEu3 and osteogenic inducing factors. This study may provide an alternative strategy in designing novel bioactive biomaterials with osteogenic inducing ability for bone tissue regeneration.