Influence of Emdogain® Treatment onto K2O Incorporated Calcium Metaphosphate on Osteogenic Activation

As a part of the efforts to develop a suitable scaffold optimizing bone regeneration that has similar physical properties to bone, we modified calcium metaphosphate (CMP) ceramics with K2O and evaluated their efficiency as a scaffold for tissue engineered bone tissue regeneration. Macroporous CMP ceramics modified by incorporation of 5% K2O to improve biodegradability were prepared to have 250 and 450 µm average pore sizes, respectively. The modified CMP ceramics were cultured with mouse primary calvarial osteoblastic cells in osteogenic media for 2 weeks and these cell-CMP ceramic constructs with or without Emdogain treatment were implanted in the SCID mice subcutaneous pouches. After 1, 2, and 3 weeks, the degree of ectopic bone formation was evaluated. The modified macroporous CMP ceramic-cell constructs treated with Emdogain induced ectopic bone formation, whereas the modified CMP ceramic-cell constructs without Emdogain treatment induced no ectopic bone formation. This result suggests that the Emdogain treatment on cell-scaffold constructs for tissue engineered bone regeneration may be effective for osteogenic activation of attached cells.