Structural and biological assessment of boron doped bioactive glass nanoparticles for dental tissue applications

In this article, bioactive glass nanoparticles (BG-NPs) doped with boron were synthesized and characterized to evaluate their effects on human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). All synthesized BGs were nano-sized and amorphous in nature. They showed the expected characteristic functional groups and composition close to the designed ones by microstructural characterizations. Porositimetry analysis revealed that increase of boron in the BG composition caused a decrease in the specific surface area, average pore diameter and total pore volume of NPs. hDPSCs were isolated from third molar teeth of patients and were shown to have the characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells. Dose dependent cytotoxicity study of boron doped BG-NPs suggested that 6.25 mg/ml was the optimum concentration for cells. ALP activity tests and intracellular calcium measurements revealed enhanced early stage odontogenic differentiation of hDPSCs treated with 6.25 mg/ml of different BG groups. Immunocytochemical staining showed positive effect of boron doped BG-NPs on DSPP, osteopontin and collagen I markers expression of hDPSCs. Our results indicated that boron doped BG-NPs hold potential as biomaterial in regenerative dentistry.