In Vitro Effects of Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Stimulation on the Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Alveolar Bone-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Tooth Tissue Engineering

Ultrasound stimulation produces significant multifunctional effects that are directly relevant to alveolar bone formation, which is necessary for periodontal healing and regeneration. We focused to find out effects of specific duty cycles and the percentage of time that ultrasound is being generated over one on/off pulse period, under ultrasound stimulation. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound ((LIPUS) 1 MHz) with duty cycles of 20% and 50% was used in this study, and human alveolar bone-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hABMSCs) were treated with an intensity of 50 mW/cm(2) and exposure time of 10 min/day. hABMSCs exposed at duty cycles of 20% and 50% had similar cell viability (O.D.), which was higher (*P < 0.05) than that of control cells. The alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was significantly enhanced at 1 week with LIPUS treatment in osteogenic cultures as compared to control. Gene expressions showed significantly higher expression levels of CD29, CD44, COL1, and OCN in the hABMSCs under LIPUS treatment when compared to control after two weeks of treatment. The effects were partially controlled by LIPUS treatment, indicating that modulation of osteogenesis in hABMSCs was related to the specific stimulation. Furthermore, mineralized nodule formation was markedly increased after LIPUS treatment than that seen in untreated cells. Through simple staining methods such as Alizarin red and von Kossa staining, calcium deposits generated their highest levels at about 3 weeks. These results suggest that LIPUS could enhance the cell viability and osteogenic differentiation of hABMSCs, and could be part of effective treatment methods for clinical applications.