Cluster-Assembled Zirconia Substrates Accelerate the Osteogenic Differentiation of Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Sara Castiglioni,
Laura Locatelli,
Alessandra Cazzaniga,
Francesca Maria Orecchio,
Tommaso Santaniello,
Claudio Piazzoni,
Lionel Bureau,
Francesca Borghi,
Paolo Milani,
Jeanette A. Maier
Affiliations
Sara Castiglioni
Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
Laura Locatelli
Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
Alessandra Cazzaniga
Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
Francesca Maria Orecchio
Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (C.I.Ma.I.Na.[M1]), University of Milan, Via Giovanni Celoria, 16, 20133 Milan, Italy
Tommaso Santaniello
Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (C.I.Ma.I.Na.[M1]), University of Milan, Via Giovanni Celoria, 16, 20133 Milan, Italy
Claudio Piazzoni
Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (C.I.Ma.I.Na.[M1]), University of Milan, Via Giovanni Celoria, 16, 20133 Milan, Italy
Lionel Bureau
Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Physique (LIPhy), Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Francesca Borghi
Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (C.I.Ma.I.Na.[M1]), University of Milan, Via Giovanni Celoria, 16, 20133 Milan, Italy
Paolo Milani
Department of Physics and Interdisciplinary Centre for Nanostructured Materials and Interfaces (C.I.Ma.I.Na.[M1]), University of Milan, Via Giovanni Celoria, 16, 20133 Milan, Italy
Jeanette A. Maier
Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
Due to their high mechanical strength and good biocompatibility, nanostructured zirconia surfaces (ns-ZrOx) are widely used for bio-applications. Through supersonic cluster beam deposition, we produced ZrOx films with controllable roughness at the nanoscale, mimicking the morphological and topographical properties of the extracellular matrix. We show that a 20 nm ns-ZrOx surface accelerates the osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived MSCs (bMSCs) by increasing the deposition of calcium in the extracellular matrix and upregulating some osteogenic differentiation markers. bMSCs seeded on 20 nm ns-ZrOx show randomly oriented actin fibers, changes in nuclear morphology, and a reduction in mitochondrial transmembrane potential when compared to the cells cultured on flat zirconia (flat-ZrO2) substrates and glass coverslips used as controls. Additionally, an increase in ROS, known to promote osteogenesis, was detected after 24 h of culture on 20 nm ns-ZrOx. All the modifications induced by the ns-ZrOx surface are rescued after the first hours of culture. We propose that ns-ZrOx-induced cytoskeletal remodeling transmits signals generated by the extracellular environment to the nucleus, with the consequent modulation of the expression of genes controlling cell fate.
