Isolation and characterization of osteoblast cultures from normal and osteopenic sheep for biomaterials evaluation

Being very useful in the analysis of bone cell differentiation and activity , osteoblast cultures are also used in the in vitro biocompatibility study of new materials. The aim of this work was to evaluate sheer osteoblast cul tures derived from normal and ovariectomized animals, and then to assess th e in vitro biomaterial behavior on these cultures, taking into account the quality of bone where orthopedic devices are clinically used. For this purp ose, we characterized sheep osteoblast cultures, isolated from iliac crest bone of normal (NB osteoblast culture) and osteopenic after ovariectomy (OB osteoblast culture) sheep. Moreover, we studied cell behavior when culture d on different biomaterials (titanium and two biological glasses, RKKP and AP40). Cell characterization at baseline demonstrated that both cultures (N B and OB) showed normal osteoblastic behavior. On the contrary, osteoblasts derived from osteopenic bone and cultivated on AP40 for 6 days revealed a different behavior in terms of both cell morphology and metabolic activity. Statistical analysis (one-way analysis of variance and Scheffe's post hoc multiple-comparison tests) revealed significant differences in Ca level (p < 0.0005), MTT test (p < 0.0005) and OC production (p < 0.05). These in vit ro tests demonstrated that sheep osteoblast cultures can be useful when det ermining biocompatibility and osteointegration of orthopedic materials, and also when evaluating for the presence of osteoporosis. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.