Sequential Application of Steady and Pulsatile Medium Perfusion Enhanced the Formation of Engineered Bone

In native bone, cells experience fluctuating shear forces that are induced by pulsatile interstitial flow associated with habitual loading. We hypothesized that the formation of engineered bone can be augmented by replicating such physiologic stimuli to osteogenic cells cultured in porous scaffolds using bioreactors with medium perfusion. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effect of fluid flow regime on in vitro bone-like tissue development by human adipose stem cells (hASC) cultivated on porous three-dimensional silk fibroin scaffolds. To this end, we varied the sequential relative durations of steady flow (SF) and pulsatile flow (PF) of culture medium applied over a period of 5 weeks, and evaluated their effect on early stages of bone formation. Porous silk fibroin scaffolds (400-600 μm pore size) were seeded with hASC (30×10(6) cells/mL) and cultured in osteogenic medium under four distinct fluid flow regimes: (1) PF for 5 weeks; (2) SF for 1 week, PF for 4 weeks; (3) SF for 2 weeks, PF for 3 weeks; (4) SF for 5 weeks. The PF was applied in 12 h intervals, with the interstitial velocity fluctuating between 400 and 1200 μm/s at a 0.5 Hz frequency for 2 h, followed by 10 h of SF. In all groups, SF was applied at 400 μm/s. The best osteogenic outcomes were achieved for the sequence of 2 weeks of SF and 3 weeks of PF, as evidenced by gene expression (including the PGE2 mechanotransduction marker), construct compositions, histomorphologies, and biomechanical properties. We thus propose that osteogenesis in hASC and the subsequent early stage bone development involve a mechanism, which detects and responds to the level and duration of hydrodynamic shear forces.