Grooves affect primary bone marrow but not osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cell cultures

To elucidate the influence of microtextures on bone cell performance, prima ry adult rat bone marrow cells (RBMC) and osteoblastic MOT3-E1 cells were c ultured on tissue culture pretreated plates to which grooves at different d ensity were applied. RBMC cells were found to be significantly affected by grooves in the substratum in contrast to osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells, takin g culture morphology, total cell number, cell mass, and cell activity (MTT- dehydrogenase), parameter for differentiation of osteoblast progenitor cell s into (pre-)osteoblasts (alkalinephosphatase activity, ALP) and tartrate-r esistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity as indices. TRAP is located in ly sosomes and secretory granules mainly although not solely in osteoclasts. B y applying grooves to and/or by chemical treatment of unpretreated pure pol ysterene plates it could be concluded that the effects on RBMC cells were e voked not only by the presence of grooves but also by the surface chemistry of the grooved and ungrooved surface areas. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.