Affiliations: [a] Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy | [b] Dipartimento di Biochimica, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy | [c] Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy | [d] Dipartimento SMEC, IRCCS San Matteo, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy | Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland & Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Lorenzo Fassina, Ph.D., University of Pavia, Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy. Tel.: +390382985352; Fax: +390382985373; E-mail: lorenzo.fassina@unipv.it.
Abstract: There is increasing interest in new biomaterials and new culture methods for bone tissue engineering, in order to produce, in vitro, living constructs able to integrate in the surrounding tissue. Using an electromagnetic bioreactor (magnetic field intensity, 2 mT; frequency, 75 Hz), we investigated the effects of electromagnetic stimulation on SAOS-2 human osteoblasts seeded onto a porous polyurethane. In comparison with control conditions, the electromagnetic stimulation caused higher cell proliferation, increased surface coating with decorin and type-I collagen, and higher calcium deposition. The immunolocalization of decorin and type-I collagen showed their colocalization in the cell-rich areas. The use of an electromagnetic bioreactor aimed at obtaining the surface modification of the porous polyurethane in terms of cell colonization and coating with calcified matrix. The superficially modified biomaterial could be used, in clinical applications, as an implant for bone repair.
