The effect of purmorphamine on osteoblast phenotype expression of human bone marrow mesenchymal cells cultured on titanium

Purmorphamine is a new molecule with osteogenesis-inducing activity in multipotent progenitor cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether purmorphamine maintains its osteogenic potential on human bone marrow mesenchymal cells cultured on commercially pure titanium (cpTi). Cells were cultured either in the absence or presence of purmorphamine 3 mum on cpTi in supplemented alpha-MEM. At 7, 14, and 21 days, cell proliferation, viability, total protein content, collagen content, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity were evaluated. Bone-like nodule formation was evaluated at 21 days. All experiments were done in quintuplicate and data were compared by ANOVA or t-test. Purmorphamine did not affect cell proliferation (P = 0.619), viability (p = 0.831), and collagen content (p = 0.088). Total protein content (p = 0.047), ALP activity (l) = 0.001), and bone-like nodule formation (p = 0.002) were increased by purmorphamine. The present results indicate that events related to osteoblast, differentiation, including increased ALP activity and bone-like nodule formation, are enhanced by purmorphamine in the presence of cpTi. It means that this molecule could be useful as an adjunct therapy to improve the osseointegration of the implants in the fields of dentistry and orthopaedics. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.