Objective: The aim of current study is to investigate the behavior of human DPSCs grown on electro spun poly (e-caprolactone) (PCL) NanoECMTM nanofibers with or without the coating of FA crystals.
Method: FA crystals were synthesized and coated on PCL nanofibers under near-physiological conditions (Chen et al., 2009). DPSCs were subcultured in DMEM with 10% FBS on PCL nanofibers with or without FA coatings up to 28 days. Fluorescence microscope and SEM were used to analyze the cell initial attachment and proliferation. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining at day 7, 14, Alizarin red and Von Kossa staining at day 21, 28 were carried out to observe the differentiation and mineralization of these DSPCs.
Result: The DPSCs attached well and evenly distributed on the NanoECMTM scaffold with or without the coating of FA after the initial seeding at day 1. However, more multicellular aggregates appeared to form in the FA coated scaffolds. Interestingly, without any mineralization induction, more ALP-positive cells with stronger staining intensity were seen on the FA coated scaffolds compared to the scaffold only group at day 7 and 14. Similar patterns were also observed in these specimens after Alizarin red and Von Kossa staining after 21 and 28 days.
Conclusion: The incorporation of FA crystals with 3D PCL nanofibers scaffold provided a favorable extracellular matrix microenvironment for the growth, differentiation and mineralization of human DPSCs. This FA modified PCL nano scaffold shows promising potential in future dental and orthopedic regenerative applications.