Mechanical Stimulation Enhances the Production of BMP-2 in Ossifying Rat Bone Marrow Organ Cultures

Bone marrow is a reservoir of mesenchymal stem cells and osteoprogenitors. It was previously shown [1, 2] and we have recently verified that in vitro cultures of bone marrow undergo osteogenesis without addition of osteoinductive stimulants. We hypothesized that the in vitro ossifying bone marrow organ culture system can be used as a model to investigate the dynamics of the osteogenesis process and its mechanoresponsiveness in terms of expression of key osteoinductive factors. The outcomes of these studies can be used to develop more effective tissue engineered substitutes for bone regeneration by the utilization of multiple osteogenic factors with complex/sequential delivery mechanisms.