Stimulatory effects of the ionic products from Ca–Mg–Si bioceramics on both osteogenesis and angiogenesis in vitro

Ideal biomaterials for bone tissue engineering should have the capability to guide the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and, at the same time, to stimulate angiogenesis of endothelia cells. In this study it was found that three Ca–Mg–Si-containing bioceramics (bredigite Ca7MgSi4O16, akermanite Ca2MgSi2O7 and diopside CaMgSi2O6) had osteogenic and angiogenic potential. The effects of three silicate ceramics on the osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) and the angiogenesis of human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were explored in comparison with β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) bioceramics. The proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) activity and bone-related gene expression (COL1, ALPase, OP, BSP and OC) of hBMSCs were significantly enhanced upon stimulation with ionic extracts of these silicate bioceramics. In addition, the results showed that extracts from the three silicate bioceramics also stimulated HAEC proliferation and in vitro angiogenesis with improved NO synthesis and angiogenic gene expression (KDR, FGFR1, ACVRL1 and NOS3). Among the three silicate ceramics bredigite showed the highest osteogenic and angiogenic potential and with the highest extract Si (possibly Si(OH)3O−) concentration, while diopside had the lowest osteogenic and angiogenic potential with the lowest extract Si concentration. Furthermore, it was found that the concentration of Si ions in extracts of the three silicate bioceramics was obviously higher than that of β-TCP ceramics, indicating an important role of Si ions in stimulating cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and angiogenesis. The results suggest that the silicate-based akermanite and bredigite ceramics might be good scaffold biomaterials for bone tissue engineering applications due to their distinctive dual functions of osteogenesis/angiogenesis stimulation.