Introductions: Coral as a new biomaterial for bone graft substitute has been studied for induction of jaw bone regeneration. The structure of the commonly used coral, porites, is similar to that of cancellous bone and its initial mechanical properties resemble those of bone. The exoskeleton of these high content calcium carbonate scaffolds has since been shown to be biocompatible. However those potency need to be improved. Objectives:This study was aimed to evaluate potency of nano scale Coral as osteoinductive agent by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Methods: We prepared a nano-scale coral to achieve the material properties such as more biocompatible and biodegradable. MG 63 osteoblast cell lines were coculture with nano-coral for further evaluation of bone regeneration marker, Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin. In addition, rat connective tissue and bone trabeculae content of tooth socket of post tooth extraction were also evaluated. Results: ALP has significantly increased in the group with the addition of the size of 1000 nm coral in comparison to those group without coral treatment (p<0.05). A significant higher of osteocalcin concentration was also noted in the experimental group with the addition of 200mesh and 1000nm coral (p<0.001), Furthermore, connective tissue and bone trabeculae fractions were formed in a higher proportion in comparison to those negative control. In conclusions: nano-coral induced bone regeneration protein markers ALP and osteocalcin in osteoblast culutre as well as enhanced connective tissue and bone trabeculae formations.
Key words: Coral, Scaffold, Osteoblast, Osteocalcin,ALP