Keisuke Oe, Masahiko Miwa, Kouki Nagamune, Yoshitada Sakai, Sang Yang Lee, Takahiro Niikura, Takashi Iwakura, Takumi Hasegawa, Nao Shibanuma, Yutaka Hata, Ryosuke Kuroda, Masahiro Kurosaka
Tissue Engineering - Part C: Methods 16(3) 347-353 2010年6月1日 査読有り
Composites of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs)/β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) have been increasingly used as bone substitutes and studied as a bone graft model for bone tissue engineering. The number of seeded cells in the composites is a crucial factor for achieving successful bone tissue regeneration. In this study, we showed that the actual number of cells in BMSC/β-TCP composites 24 h after seeding at densities of 1.0×10 6, 1.5×106, 2.0×106, and 1.0×107 cells/mL was 2.8±1.5×105, 3.4±2.3×105, 3.7±1.0×105, and 3.7±1.8×105, respectively, indicating that even when one regular cell-seeding concentration was applied to the β-TCP, the actual number of cells in the individual BMSC/β-TCP composites varied considerably. In clinical setting, it is important to choose composites containing an appropriate number of cells before implanting them to patients. In an attempt to searching for the practical tools that can nondestructively evaluate the actual number of cells in β-TCP after cell seeding, we looked into ultrasound system and developed a nondestructive and quantitative ultrasound device. We successfully demonstrated for the first time that ultrasound amplitude effectively responded to the quantity of BMSC/β-TCP composites after 24-h cell seeding, and was well correlated to the actual number of cells contained (r=0.903). Using this ultrasound device, orthopedic surgeons can choose composites that contain favorable number of cells before implantation.Our device could be a valuable, convenient, and nondestructive tool for future bone tissue engineering. © 2010 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.