Layered Double Hydroxides Are Promising Nanomaterials for Tissue Bioengineering Application.

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have emerged as promising nanomaterials for human health and although it has achieved some progress on this matter, their application within bioengineering is not fully addressed. This prompted to subject fibroblasts to two compositions of LDHs (Mg Al-Cl and Zn Al-Cl), considering an acute response. First, LDH particles are addressed by scanning electron microscopy, and no significant effect of the cell culture medium on the shape of LDHs particles is reported although it seems to adsorb some soluble proteins as proposed by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis.

Fibroblast-secreted trophic factors contribute with ECM remodeling stimulus and upmodulate osteocyte gene markers in osteoblasts.

As osteogenesis is a multifactorial mechanism, we wonder whether osteoblast-induced extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling might be modulated by trophic factors released by fibroblasts in a paracrine signaling manner. To address this issue, fibroblasts were cultured for 72 h under conventional conditions when their conditioned medium was harvested and used to challenge pre-osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1 cells) for 14 days. Preliminarily, we validated the potential effect of fibroblasts in contributing to osteocyte phenotype, which specifically requires significant expression of Dentin Matrix Protein 1 (DMP1; about 10-fold changes) and Sclerostin (SOST; about 7-fold changes), both biomarkers of osteocyte.

Modulatory effects of silibinin in cell behavior during osteogenic phenotype.

Natural molecules, such as flavonoid, are very welcome strategies to modulate bone turnover. This prompted us to comprehend better the effect of silibinin on osteoblast metabolism, mainly considering intracellular pathways able to drive cell adhesion to differentiation. By exploring in vitro approaches, our data show a modulatory effect of the silibinin (200 μg/mL) on the osteoblast intracellular signaling, contributing with decisive pathways governing cell adhesion, differentiation, and further mineralization, recapitulating important stages of osteogenesis.