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Updated: Oct 9, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Tissue Regeneration and Disease Modeling with Dental Pulp Stem Cells
Published on: May 5, 2023
Effect of Hydroxyapatite Microspheres, Amoxicillin-Hydroxyapatite and Collagen-Hydroxyapatite Composites on Human
Yasmine Mendes Pupo1, Lidiane Maria Boldrini Leite2, Alexandra Cristina Senegaglia2
1Department of Restorative Dentistry, Postgraduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Parana, Av. Prefeito Lothário Meissner 632, Jardim Botânico, Curitiba 80210-170, Brazil.
Abstract:
In this study, the preparation and characterization of three hydroxyapatite-based bioactive scaffolds, including hydroxyapatite microspheres (HAps), amoxicillin-hydroxyapatite composite (Amx-HAp), and collagen-hydroxyapatite composite (Col-HAp) were performed. In addition, their behavior in human dental pulp mesenchymal stem cell (hDPSC) culture was investigated. HAps were synthesized through the following methods: microwave hydrothermal, hydrothermal reactor, and precipitation, respectively. hDPSCs were obtained from samples of third molars and characterized by immunophenotypic analysis. Cells were cultured on scaffolds with osteogenic differentiation medium and maintained for 21 days. Cytotoxicity analysis and migration assay of hDPSCs were evaluated. After 21 days of induction, no differences in genes expression were observed. hDPSCs highly expressed the collagen IA and the osteonectin at the mRNA. The cytotoxicity assay using hDPSCs demonstrated that the Col-HAp group presented non-viable cells statistically lower than the control group (p = 0.03). In the migration assay, after 24 h HAps revealed the same migration behavior for hDPSCs observed compared to the positive control. Col-HAp also provided a statistically significant higher migration of hDPSCs than HAps (p = 0.02). Migration results after 48 h for HAps was intermediate from those achieved by the control groups. There was no statistical difference between the positive control and Col-HAp. Specifically, this study demonstrated that hydroxyapatite-based bioactive scaffolds, especially Col-Hap, enhanced the dynamic parameters of cell viability and cell migration capacities for hDPSCs, resulting in suitable adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of this osteogenic lineage. These data presented are of high clinical importance and hold promise for application in therapeutic areas, because Col-HAp can be used in ridge preservation, minor bone augmentation, and periodontal regeneration. The development of novel hydroxyapatite-based bioactive scaffolds with clinical safety for bone formation from hDPSCs is an important yet challenging task both in biomaterials and cell biology.

