The unique calcium chelation property of poly(vinyl phosphonic acid‐co‐acrylic acid) and effects on osteogenesis in vitro

There is a clear clinical need for a bioactive bone graft substitute. Poly(vinyl phosphonic acid‐co‐acrylic acid) (PVPA‐co‐AA) has been identified as a promising candidate for bone regeneration but there is little evidence to show its direct osteogenic effect on progenitor or mature cells. In this study mature osteoblast‐like cells (SaOS‐2) and human bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBM‐MSCs) were cultured with PVPA‐co‐AA polymers with different VPA:AA ratio and at different concentrations in vitro. We are the first to report the direct osteogenic effect of PVPA‐co‐AA polymer on bone cells and, more importantly, this effect was dependent on VPA:AA ratio and concentration. Under the optimized conditions, PVPA‐co‐AA polymer not only has an osteoconductive effect, enhancing SaOS‐2 cell mineralization, but also has an osteoinductive effect to promote hBM‐MSCs’ osteogenic differentiation. Notably, the same PVPA‐co‐AA polymer at different concentrations could lead to differential osteogenic effects on both SaOS‐2 and hBM‐MSCs in vitro. This study furthers knowledge of the PVPA‐co‐AA polymer in osteogenic studies, which is critical when utilizing the PVPA‐co‐AA polymer for the design of novel bioactive polymeric tissue engineering scaffolds for future clinical applications. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 168–179, 2018.