Writing in the current issue of Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, they describe how the scaffold also allows efficient growth of
bone cells on its surface, thereby meeting the criteria of both strength and biocompatibility needed to be used in patients.
The two proteins complement each other in that BMP2 helps to turn non-
bone cells into boneforming cells, and NELL-1 then increases the boneforming ability of
bone cells.
So "since our
bone cells interact with nanometer bumps, we need materials that have nanometer bumps," says Tom Webster, a member of the Purdue research team.
Being in the shape of a
bone cell seems to induce the cells to activate the genes that ultimately produce bone tissue.
To investigate this, they looked in detail at rat
bone cells from the skull and compared them with cells from limb bone.
The objective of this study, titled "Plitidepsin regulates viability and function of myeloma cells and
bone cells in combination with other anti-MM drugs" (#3065), was to determine the effect of plitidepsin, as a single agent or in combination with other compounds, on
bone cells (osteocytes, in charge of maintaining the bone once formed; osteoblasts, responsible for bone growth; and osteoclasts, that destroy old bone, so that the osteoblasts can generate new bone).
To test the premise, investigators placed stem cells at their normal volume in a hardened hydrogel substrate to simulate the rigidness of
bone cells.
Scientists who studied the bones found in Poland and Germany believe the condition was triggered by the "bends", as rapid ascent in water destroys
bone cells.
We don't need to use a cocktail of small molecules, growth factors or other supplements to create a population of
bone cells from human pluripotent stem cells like induced pluripotent stem cells," Varghese said.
Research conducted at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science built on previous findings that gold nanoparticles can encourage stem cells in the bone marrow to differentiate into
bone cells, and that specific biomolecules can inhibit or promote stem cell differentiation.
