Substrate mineralization stimulates focal adhesion contact redistribution and cell motility of bone marrow stromal cells

Understanding the mechanisms of substrate based control of cell function is critical to the design of biomaterials. Cells interact with their extracellular matrix through cell adhesion contacts. We have previously described the self assembly of bone‐like mineral onto an organic template and have shown that these biomimetic surfaces lead to an increased volume fraction of bone regenerated in vivo. In the present study, we compared the distribution of cell adhesion contacts, cell spreading, and cell motility of murine bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) on mineralized vs. nonmineralized substrates. We developed a new approach for quantification of cell‐material interactions and demonstrated that cell adhesion contacts on mineralized substrates were distributed throughout the cell surface contacting the substrate, whereas on nonmineralized substrates cell adhesion contacts were present near the cell periphery. We propose that mineralized substrates stimulate the predominant expression of fibrillar contacts, and nonmineralized substrates stimulate expression of focal adhesion contacts. Cell motility assays with colloidal gold demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in the average phagokinetic index of migrating cells on mineralized vs. nonmineralized substrates after 90 min of cell seeding. We propose that the physical–chemical properties of the substrate, altered by mineralization, cause expression of specific types of cell contacts and, as a result, modify molecular mechanisms responsible for cell spreading, motility, and possibly differentiation. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2006