For some bone tissue engineering strategies, direct contact of newly synthesized bone with a scaffold is important for structural continuity and stability at the scaffold/bone interface. Thus, as the polymer degrades, the support function of the scaffold could be adopted by the developing bone structure. This study was designed to determine whether poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) with a comonomer ratio of 75:25 supports bone apposition in vitro. Osteogenic cells derived from rat bone marrow cells were cultured for 2 weeks on polymeric two-dimensional films and three-dimensional tissue engineering scaffolds. Bacteriological grade polystyrene and tissue culture polystyrene dishes served as negative and positive controls for interfacial bone deposition, respectively. The surfaces of the prepared substrates were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, dynamic water contact angle, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. After cell culture, the elaborated matrix was examined using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results show that poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) supports appositional bone growth on both two-dimensional films and three-dimensional scaffolds, including the formation of a mineralized cement line matrix. Furthermore, surface topographical features are not required for the adherence of the cement line matrix to the polymer.
Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 64A: 388-396, 2003