Influence of a Calcium Phosphate Coating (BONIT(®)) on the Proliferation and Differentiation Potential of Human Mesenchymal Stroma Cells in the Early Phase of Bone Healing

When implanting osteosynthetic materials or orthopedic implants, the surface condition plays a decisive role for mid- to long-term osseointegration. BONIT(®), an electrochemically produced calcium phosphate (CaP) coating, has been used in the surface refinement of implants since 1995. More than 3.5 million coated implants have been successfully placed so far. BONIT(®) has thus been able to demonstrate clinical success. However, due to its surface properties and solubility, and the resulting difficulty in culturing cells, there are no in vitro studies investigating its influence at the molecular level, particularly on bone metabolism. In a first step, the cells from a total of ten donors were seeded separately on four different surfaces: 1. a pure corundum-blasted titanium surface (CELLTex(®), CT), 2. CT with additional BONIT(®) coating (CT + B), 3. a hydroxyapatite-blasted titanium surface (DUOTex(®), DT), 4. DT with additional BONIT(®) coating (DT + B). In a second step, the cells were grown for 48 h. The proliferation behavior and differentiation potential of hMSCs were investigated at three consecutive time points (12 h, 24 h and 48 h) by quantifying the mRNA expression of ten important differentiation markers using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We were able to show that BONIT(®) has an influence on the early proliferation and differentiation behavior of hMSCs in patients of all age groups. The additional BONIT(®) coating on CELLTex(®) or DUOTex(®) led to a defined mRNA expression pattern for the investigated factors: a tendency towards a higher expression rate with coating present could be found for bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), osteopontin (OPN), osteocalcin (OC), receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and osteoprotegerin (OPG). A similar or lower expression rate was detected for runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), alpha-1 type I collagen (COL1A1), alkaline phosphatase (AP), osteonectin (ON) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF1). We have developed a new method that allows the cultivation of human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) on the soluble coating BONIT(®) for gene expression analysis. BONIT(®) has a significant influence on the proliferation and differentiation behavior of human mesenchymal stroma cells. This study describes a defined gene expression pattern of bone metabolism that may help to understand the influence of this CaP coating on the early phase of implant osseointegration.