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Table 3 Advantages and disadvantages of using different human cells in bone tissue engineering research

From: Human cells with osteogenic potential in bone tissue research

Cells

Use in bone tissue engineering

Advantages

Disadvantages

Osteosarcoma cells

MG-63

Initial adhesion and biocompatibility assay

Fast growth and easy cultivation

Pathological phenotype; low mineralization

Saos-2

Initial adhesion and biocompatibility and osteodifferentiation tests

Fast growth and easy cultivation; a valuable pilot model due to high ALP activity and OCN expression

Pathological phenotype

Mesenchymal stem cells

AD-MSCs

Cytocompatibility tests; usable for therapeutic applications

Relevant results; easier to collect than BM-MSCs

Lower differentiation potential for osteogenesis than BM-MSCs

BM-MSCs

Cytocompatibility tests; usable for therapeutic applications

Relevant results; high differentiation potential for osteogenesis

Invasive method of collection; high rate of senescence depending on the age of the donor; long PDT; tumorigenic potential of immortalized BM-MSCs; ethics committee approval and patient's informed consent needed to access primary cells

HUC–MSCs

Better for regenerative medicine and therapies of the nervous system, liver and diabetes

Non-invasive method of collection; favorable proliferation capacity; low immunogenicity

Delayed and insufficient osteogenesis

DPSCs

Testing of dental implants;

peripheral nervous system

regeneration therapy

Easy collection from deciduous teeth and wisdom teeth; faster PDT compared to BM-MSCs and AD-MSCs; wide differentiation potential

Weak calcification; differentiation mainly into odontoblasts

G-MSCs

Osteointegration of dental implants; testing of scaffolds for bone regeneration; application in regenerative dentistry

Easy collection from gum; faster PDT compared to BM-MSCs and AD-MSCs; for clinical applications better than BM-MSCs; no tumorigenic potential

Reduced osteogenic differentiation potential compared to BM-MSC

USCs

Possibility of use for cartilage and bone regeneration is in the research phase

Easy, safe and cheap collection from urine

Use in bone engineering is not yet common; rather for genitourinary tract reconstructive surgery

D-MSCs

More often for use in cartilage engineering (osteoarthritis treatment)

Easy availability of the skin with high regenerative capacity

Use in bone engineering is not yet common

Osteoblasts

hFOB 1.19

Model for the study of cytokines and growth factors effect on osteoblast physiology and differentiation

Easier to repeat experiments than with hOBs; spontaneous differentiation

Transfected cell line

hOBs

Model for studying the mechanism of bone formation, regulation of differentiation, molecular and biochemical mechanisms associated with disease development, to monitor potential therapeutic agents, or to test the biocompatibility of bone replacements

Physiological phenotype of osteoblast differentiating into osteocyte

Limited resources of hOBs; long-term cultivation leads to phenotypic drift; high rate of senescence; donor age, gender and health dependent culture; ethics committee approval and patient's informed consent needed to access primary cells