Effects of Electromagnetic Field on Proliferation, Differentiation and Mineralization of MC3T3 Cells.

Author: Suryani L1,2, Too JH3, Hassanbhai AM1,4, Wen F1,5, Lin DJ6, Yu N7,8, Teoh SH1,9,10
Affiliation:
1Nanyang Technological University College of Engineering, 106227, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Singapore, Singapore.
2Centre for Developmental Biology, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Innovation, Singapore , Singapore, Singapore ; luvi0001@e.ntu.edu.sg.
3National Dental Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore ; too.jian.hui@ndcs.com.sg.
4Centre for Developmental Biology, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Innovation, Singapore , Singapore, Singapore ; AHASSANBHAI@ntu.edu.sg.
5Centre for Developmental Biology, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Innovation, Singapore , Singapore, Singapore ; wenfeng@ntu.edu.sg.
6Nanyang Technological University College of Engineering, 106227, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Singapore, Singapore ; DLIN007@e.ntu.edu.sg.
7National Dental Centre Singapore, Restorative Dentistry , 5 Second Hospital Avenue , Singapore, Singapore , 168938.
8Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, 121579, Singapore, Singapore , 169547 ; yu.na@ndcs.com.sg.
9Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, 371018, Singapore, Singapore.
10Centre for Developmental Biology, Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine and Innovation, Singapore , Singapore, Singapore ; teohsh@ntu.edu.sg.
Conference/Journal: Tissue Eng Part C Methods.
Date published: 2019 Jan 19
Other: Special Notes: doi: 10.1089/ten.TEC.2018.0364. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 299


The steep increasing incidence of bone diseases and fractures provides a commanding impetus and growing demands for bone tissue engineering research. Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) have been documented to promote bone fracture healing in non-unions and to enhance the maturation of osteoblastic cell, which is the key element in bone tissues. However, the optimal parameters for PEMF stimulation are still being explored. In this study, we investigated the effects of PEMF treatment on the proliferation, differentiation and mineralization of osteoblast precursor cells MC3T3-E1, to explore the cell growth profile under different PEMF exposure durations (15, 30 and 60 minutes daily) with a magnetic field strength of 0.6 mT, at a frequency of 50Hz, cultured in media with or without osteogenic supplements for 28 days. Cell viability and metabolic activity were accessed by confocal microscopy and alamarBlue time-course measurements and results indicated there were no adverse effects under designated PEMF condition. After 7 days of PEMF exposure, in comparison with negative controls, cell numbers increased when exposed to PEMF in culture medium and was independent of osteogenic supplements. However, PEMF might not have significant impact on cellular mineralization as observed from calcium deposition analysis even though osteogenic gene expression was upregulated for cells with PEMF exposure. Von Kossa and Alizarin Red staining indicated that extracellular matrix mineralization occurred at Day 28 with osteogenic supplements only and no significant differences were found among those samples with different PEMF treatment durations. In summary, our results suggested that PEMF stimulation for as short as 15 minutes could improve cell proliferation but not mineralization in vitro. Thus, this study highlights the importance of choosing appropriate PEMF parameters to achieve the desired effect on target cells. The optimization of PEMFs will enhanced the efficiency of it usage as a clinical adjuvant therapeutic treatment for bone defect regeneration.

PMID: 30661463 DOI: 10.1089/ten.TEC.2018.0364

BACK