Comparison of Osteoblastic Differentiation of Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells through Application of Two β-tricalcium Phosphate Products: An in vitro Study

Statement of the Problem: Osteoblastic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PLSCs) is essential for alveolar bone regeneration. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the potential of two β-tricalcium phos-phate (βTCP) products to induce osteoblastic differentiation of human PLSCs. Materials and Method: In this in vitro study, human PLSCs were cultured in mediums supplemented with Guidor Easy-Graft [βTCP+polylactide-co-glycolide(PLCG)+n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone(NMP)] [Sunstar Company, Swiss] or Sorbone [βTCP] [Meta Company, South Korea] as two alloplasts experimental groups, mesenchymal cells differentiated into osteo-blasts without alloplast as positive control group, and mesenchymal cells without osteo-blastic induction as negative control group. Osteoblastic differentiation was evaluated using Alizarine Red staining and spectrophotometry to assay calcium deposits and real-time poly-merase chain reaction to examine expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteopontin (OPN) antigens on day 21. Data were analyzed by using SPSS 22 software and one-way ANOVA and Bonferoni tests (p 0.05). Results: Spectrophotometry confirmed that calcium deposits were higher in Guidor Easy-Graft group compared to Sorbone group (p 0.001) and higher in two experimental groups than controls (p 0.05). According to real-time polymerase chain reaction, level of ALP expression was higher in Sorbone than Guidor and the levels of Guidor, positive control and negative control were equal; OPN levels of the positive control were more than the other groups. OPN levels of Sobone, Guidor and negative control were the same. Conclusion: These findings indicated that Guidor Easy-Graft and Sorbone enhanced differ-entiation of human PLSCs to osteoblasts, and could be employed as appropriate bone-graft materials.