This #quickresearchbyte post relates to the recently published article, “Formulation and biological actions of nano-bioglass ceramic particles doped with Calcarea phosphorica for bone tissue engineering” by Dinesh Kumar S, Mohamed Abudhahir K, Selvamurugan N, Vimalraj S, Murugesan R, Srinivasan N, and Moorthi A in Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2018 Feb 1;83:202-209.
DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2017.08.077. Epub 2017 Aug 24.
The bone and metabolic disorders are amongst the biggest clinical challenges of next century. With an alarming rate, their spread is expected to be double in a couple of years. The challenge remains the same. To reduce their occurrence, to reduce the medical burden on society and to find the viable alternatives apart from diet and lifestyle.
One such uprising and the promising area is the application of biomaterials in bone defects such as bone & dental trauma, osteoporosis, osteomyelitis etc. The delivery of biomaterials in an organism is done through doping a vehicle which must be novel, safe and non-toxic.
In this work, authors chose the homeopathic remedy Calcarea Phosphorica as a vehicle and doped it with Bioactive glass ceramic (BGC) which has recently acquired a great attention as the most promising material and is being used as a filler material for bone tissue regeneration. BGC as quoted, “was widely used as coatings on metallic implants, dental fillings materials …….. stimulate the gene expressions of osteoblasts cells…..“. The additive materials are added to biomaterial to improve their bioavailability and functioning.
In present study authors used Calcarea phos, which is our favorite bone repair medicines (apart from various other constitutional uses).
Study design: Fundamental Research.
Methodology: Doping of Calcarea phosphorica with nano-BGC particles. (potency of Calcarea phos not mentioned)
Aim: to achieve a novel nano-bio-implants with BGC and Calcarea phosphorica for bone repair.
Techniques/Instrumentation: Formation of nano-BGC using strict techniques and assessment of physicochemical properties using scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, determination of cytotoxicity of the nBGC and Calc phos-nBGC particles using e mouse mesenchymal stem cells; Osteoblast differentiation at the molecular level by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis; Osteoblast differentiation at the cellular level by alizarin red staining and quantification.
Major points of learning:
- The surface morphology of nBGC and CP-nBGC varied widely. The calcium deposition was seen over the nBGC. The existence of calcium and silicon is vital in determining the biological activity of nBGC particles.
- The vibrational confirmations of the presence of Silica (Si) and Calcium (Ca) using FTIR as key components of nBGC and integration of Calcarea phosphorica with nBGC confirms the molecular bonding between the drug and ceramics.
- The particles were subjected to cytocompatibility with mouse mesenchymal cells (mMSC) and the toxicity was studied by colorimetric quantification for assessing the mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase activity.
- 0.1 mg/ml of particles was chosen as the ideal concentration for further in vitro studies.
- CP-nBGC exhibited the better biocompatibility at 0.1 mg/ml concentration with mMSCs. Cells in both control and CP-nBGC treated were found to be exhibited in well-spread morphology, which has been a better indicator of a biocompatible environment of the CPnBGC particles to mMSCs.
- CPnBGC was shown to promote around 18% of cells towards proliferation.
- “The current study provides the new approach with biomaterials and homeopathic preparation to strengthen the bone tissue engineering.”
- The synthesized particles exhibited a proliferative and biocompatible effect on mouse mesenchymal stem cells. The natural composition with bone resembling biomaterial provided the osteogenic potential in mMSCs.
- Hence, the findings in this study provide new insights into the development of novel approach in developing the biomaterials with potential bone formation promoting potentiality furthermore offers the substantial advantages of biomaterials in bone tissue engineering.
This work is an extension of the application of high dilutions (HDs) beyond their conventional use.
