Light and low-frequency pulsatile hydrostatic pressure enhances extracellular matrix formation by bone marrow mesenchymal cells: an in-vitro study with special reference to cartilage repair

Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 2007 Jul;221(5):499-507. doi: 10.1243/09544119JEIM199.

Abstract

Ovine bone marrow mesenchymal cells (BMMCs) were seeded on to non-woven filamentous plasma-treated polyester scaffolds and cultured in a chondrogenic medium for 4 weeks. Thereafter a pulsatile hydrostatic pressure (PHP) was applied to these cell-scaffolds constructs at an amplitude of 0.1 MPa and frequency of 0.25 Hz, for 30 min a day, over a period of 10 days. Samples (n = 6) were removed 24 h after PHP stimulation at days 1, 4, 7, and 10 for biochemical analysis. Similar analyses were conducted, at the same time points, on control samples that were not subjected to a PHP. The results showed that the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content did not significantly increase until after the application of a PHP for 7 days. The GAG content was 1.5 and 2.7 times higher in the PHP group than in the control group at days 7 and 10 respectively (p<0.01). The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content was 1.5 times greater in the PHP group than in the control group at day 10 (p<0.01). GAG synthesis amounts, expressed as the total GAG contents per microgram of DNA, were 1.6 and 1.8 times higher in the PHP group than in the control group at days 7 and 10 respectively (p<0.01). The total collagen content in the medium did not change until after PHP application for 10 days, when it was 1.9 times higher than the control (p < 0.05). The results suggest that a light PHP applied at a low frequency has a cumulative stimulatory effect on the BMMCs' metabolic activities including cell proliferation and synthesis of the extracellular matrix.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bone Marrow Cells / cytology
  • Bone Marrow Cells / physiology
  • Bone Marrow Cells / radiation effects
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Chondrocytes / cytology*
  • Chondrocytes / physiology*
  • Chondrocytes / radiation effects
  • Chondrogenesis / physiology
  • Chondrogenesis / radiation effects
  • Extracellular Matrix / physiology*
  • Extracellular Matrix / radiation effects
  • Fractures, Cartilage / physiopathology
  • Fractures, Cartilage / surgery
  • Light
  • Mechanotransduction, Cellular / physiology*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / physiology*
  • Mesenchymal Stem Cells / radiation effects
  • Pressure
  • Sheep