Abstract
Tissue engineering offers immense promise for bone regeneration. Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) can be collected without invasive procedures required for bone marrow MSCs. The objective of this study was to investigate the physical properties and the differentiation capacity of hUCMSCs on calcium phosphate cement (CPC) scaffolds with improved dissolution/resorption rates. CPC consisted of tetracalcium phosphate and dicalcium phosphate anhydrous, with various tetracalcium phosphate/dicalcium phosphate anhydrous ratios. At 1/3 ratio, CPC had a dissolution rate 40% faster than CPC control at 1/1. The faster-resorbable CPC had strength and modulus similar to CPC control. Their strength and modulus exceeded the reported values for cancellous bone, and were much higher than those of hydrogels and injectable polymers for cell delivery. hUCMSCs attached to the nano-apatitic CPC and proliferated rapidly. hUCMSCs differentiated into the osteogenic lineage, with significant increases in alkaline phosphatase activity, osteocalcin, collagen I, and osterix gene expression. In conclusion, in this study we reported that hUCMSCs attaching to CPC with high dissolution/resorption rate showed excellent proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. hUCMSCs delivered via high-strength CPC have the potential to be an inexhaustible and low-cost alternative to the gold-standard human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. These results may broadly impact stem-cell-based tissue engineering.