Evaluation of osteoconductive effect of polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold treated with fibronectin on adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs).

Background: Replacing damaged organs or tissues and repairing damage by tissue engineering are attracting great interest today. A potentially effective method for bone remodeling involves combining nanofiber scaffolds with extracellular matrix (ECM), and growth factors. Today, electrospun PCL-based scaffolds are widely used for tissue engineering applications.

Methods: In this study, we used an electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffold coated with fibronectin (Fn), a ubiquitous ECM glycoprotein, to investigate the induction potential of this scaffold in osteogenesis with adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs).

Results: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that fibronectin, by binding to the membrane receptors of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), leads to their attachment and proliferation on the PCL scaffold and provides a suitable environment for osteogenesis. In addition, biochemical tests showed that fibronectin leads to increased calcium deposition. The results also showed that alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly higher in the PCL scaffold coated with fibronectin than in the control groups (PCL scaffold group and tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) group) (P<0.05). Also, the analysis of quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) data showed that the relative expression of bone marker genes such as osteonectin (ON), osteocalcin (OC), RUNX family transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), and collagen type I alpha 1 (COL1) was much higher in the cells seeded on the PCL/Fn scaffold than in the other groups (P<0.05).

Conclusions: The results show that fibronectin has an increasing effect in accelerating bone formation and promising potential for use in bone tissue engineering.