Cytocompatibility and osteogenic differentiation of stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth with cotton cellulose nanofibers for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Abstract

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are natural polymers with physical–chemical properties that make them very attractive for modulating stem cell differentiation, a crucial step in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Although cellulose is cytocompatible, when materials are in nanoscale, they become more reactive, needing to evaluate its potential toxic effect to ensure safe application. This study aimed to investigate the cytocompatibility of cotton CNF and its differentiation capacity induction on stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth. First, the cotton CNF was characterized. Then, the cytocompatibility and the osteogenic differentiation induced by cotton CNF were examined. The results revealed that cotton CNFs have about 6–18 nm diameters, and the zeta potential was −10 mV. Despite gene expression alteration, the cotton CNF shows good cytocompatibility. The cotton CNF induced an increase in phosphatase alkaline activity and extracellular matrix mineralization. The results indicate that cotton CNF has good cytocompatibility and can promote cell differentiation without using chemical inducers, showing great potential as a new differentiation inductor for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

Keywords:

• Nanomaterial
• nanotoxicity
• osteogenic differentiation
• cell therapy

Disclosure statement

The authors confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) [grant number APQ-02342-17], Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) [grant number 433461/2018-7], the Rede de Mineira de Pesquisa e Inovação para Bioengenharia de Nanossistemas (RM PI-BEM) [grant number TEC - RED-00282-16], Rede de Nanotecnologia Aplicada ao Agronegócio (AGRONANO), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (PPGCBIO).