In vitro osteogenic potential of collagen/chitosan-based hydrogels-silica particles hybrids in human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cell cultures

The aim of this study was to assess osteogenic potential of three groups of biopolymeric hydrogel-based surfaces made of plain collagen, chitosan or collagen/chitosan, crosslinked with genipin or all three biopolymers modified with silica particles of two sizes (S1 = 240 nm and S2 = 450 nm). Biocompatibility and osteoinductive properties of the resulting composites were analyzed in the human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hBMSCs) in vitro cultures. It was revealed that all tested materials are biocompatible and significantly enhance ALP activity in hBMSCs which was particularly pronounced for collagen/chitosan based hybrids. Gene expression (RUNX-2, COL-I, OC and VEGF mRNA) analyses performed in hBMSCs cultured at collagen/chitosan materials showed that ColChS1 hybrid the most effectively promotes osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs. SEM and EDS analyses of materials carried out after 20 days of hBMSCs culturing on ColCh-based hydrogels revealed that the hybrid materials enhanced hBMSCs-mediated mineralization of ECM. Our studies revealed that collagen/chitosan hydrogels modified with silica particles of smaller sizes (ColChS1) exhibit high pro-osteogenic properties without the need of applying any additional osteogenic inducers. That suggests that ColChS1 having the intrinsic osteoinductive activity holds great potential as material of choice for bone regeneration procedures, especially in regeneration of small bone losses.