An assessment of the overexpression of BMP‐2 in transfected human osteoblast cells stimulated by mineral trioxide aggregate and Biodentine

Aim To evaluate the effect of MTA and Biodentine on viability, osteogenic differentiation and BMP‐2 expression in osteogenic cells. Methodology Saos‐2 cells were used as a model of osteoblastic cells. Overexpression of BMP‐2 was induced by transfection of a CMV‐driven plasmid construct including the human BMP‐2 coding sequence, and stably transfected cells were selected. Cell viability was assessed by the mitochondrial dehydrogenase enzymatic (MTT) assay. The bioactivity of the materials was evaluated by the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay and detection of calcium deposits with alizarin red staining (ARS). The gene expression of BMP‐2 and ALP was quantified with real‐time PCR. Statistical analysis was performed with analysis of variance and Bonferroni or Tukey post‐test (α = 0.05). Results Viability tests revealed that MTA and Biodentine were not cytotoxic at the higher dilution (1 : 8) to BMP‐2‐transfected cells. MTA and Biodentine exhibited the highest ALP activity when compared to the Saos‐BMP‐2‐unexposed control group (P