Bone Formation in 2D Culture of Primary Cells

Relevance of mineralized nodules in two‐dimensional (2D) osteoblast/osteocyte cultures to bone biology, pathology, and engineering is a decades old question, but a comprehensive answer appears to be still wanting. Bone‐like cells, extracellular matrix (ECM), and mineral were all reported but so were non‐bone‐like ones. Many studies described seemingly bone‐like cell‐ECM structures based on similarity to few select bone features in vivo, yet no studies examined multiple bone features simultaneously and none systematically studied all types of structures coexisting in the same culture. Here, we report such comprehensive analysis of 2D cultures based on light and electron microscopies, Raman microspectroscopy, gene expression, and in situ messenger RNA (mRNA) hybridization. We demonstrate that 2D cultures of primary cells from mouse calvaria do form bona fide bone. Cells, ECM, and mineral within it exhibit morphology, structure, ultrastructure, composition, spatial–temporal gene expression pattern, and growth consistent with intramembranous ossification. However, this bone is just one of at least five different types of cell‐ECM structures coexisting in the same 2D culture, which vary widely in their resemblance to bone and ability to mineralize. We show that the other two mineralizing structures may represent abnormal (disrupted) bone and cartilage‐like structure with chondrocyte‐to‐osteoblast transdifferentiation. The two nonmineralizing cell‐ECM structures may mimic periosteal cambium and pathological, nonmineralizing osteoid. Importantly, the most commonly used culture conditions (10mM β‐glycerophosphate) induce artificial mineralization of all cell‐ECM structures, which then become barely distinguishable. We therefore discuss conditions and approaches promoting formation of bona fide bone and simple means for distinguishing it from the other cell‐ECM structures. Our findings may improve osteoblast differentiation and function analyses based on 2D cultures and extend applications of these cultures to general bone biology and tissue engineering research. Published 2022. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.