Osteoblast Cell Response to Naturally Derived Calcium Phosphate-Based Materials

The demand of calcium phosphate bioceramics for biomedical applications is constantly increasing. Efficient and cost-effective production can be achieved using naturally derived materials. In this work, calcium phosphate powders, obtained from dolomitic marble and seashells by a previously reported and improved Rathje method were used to fabricate microporous pellets through cold isostatic pressing followed by sintering at 1200 °C. The interaction of the developed materials with MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts was explored in terms of cell adhesion, morphology, viability, proliferation, and differentiation to evaluate their potential for bone regeneration. Results showed appropriate cell adhesion and high viability without distinguishable differences in the morphological features. Likewise, the pre-osteoblast proliferation overtime on both naturally derived calcium phosphate materials showed a statistically significant increase comparable to that of commercial hydroxyapatite, used as reference material. Furthermore, evaluation of the intracellular alkaline phosphatase activity and collagen synthesis and deposition, used as markers of the osteogenic ability of these bioceramics, revealed that all samples promoted pre-osteoblast differentiation. However, a seashell-derived ceramic demonstrated a higher efficacy in inducing cell differentiation, almost equivalent to that of the commercial hydroxyapatite. Therefore, data obtained demonstrate that this naturally sourced calcium-phosphate material holds promise for applications in bone tissue regeneration.