Saos-2 cell-mediated mineralization on collagen gels: Effect of densification and bioglass incorporation

Plastic compression is a collagen densification process that has been widely used for the development of mechanically robust collagen-based materials. Incorporation of bioglass within plastically compressed collagen gels has been shown to mimic the microstructural properties of native bone and enhance in vitro cell-mediated mineralization. The current study seeks to decouple the effects of collagen densification and bioglass incorporation to understand the interplay between collagen packing density and presence of bioglass on cell-mediated mineralization. Saos-2 cell-mediated mineralization was assessed as a measure of the osteoconductivity of four different collagen gels: (1) uncompressed collagen gel (UC), (2) bioglass incorporated uncompressed collagen gel (UC + BG), (3) plastically compressed collagen gel (PC), and (4) bioglass incorporated plastically compressed collagen gel (PC + BG). The results indicated that collagen densification enhanced mineralization as shown by SEM, increased alkaline phosphatase activity and produced significantly higher amounts of mineralized nodules on PC gels compared to UC gels. Further, the amount of nodule formation on PC gels was significantly higher compared to UC + BG gels indicating that increase in matrix stiffness due to collagen densification had a greater effect on cell-mediated mineralization compared to bioglass incorporation into loosely packed UC gels. Incorporation of bioglass into PC gels further enhanced mineralization as evidenced by significantly larger nodule size and higher amount of mineralization on PC + BG gels compared to PC gels. In conclusion, collagen densification via plastic compression improves the osteoconductivity of collagen gels. Further, incorporation of bioglass within PC gels has an additive effect and further enhances the osteoconductivity of collagen gels.