Behaviour of fetal rat osteoblasts cultured in vitro on bioactive glass and nonreactive glasses.

We examined the behaviour of fetal rat osteoblasts cultured upon bioactive glass and nonreactive glasses, and the supposed stimulatory effects of bioactive glass on osteoblasts. Nonreactive glass cultures showed flattened cells with almost no dorsal ruffles. Bioactive glass cultures showed compact cells with dorsal ruffles and filapodia resulting in the formation of a denser cell layer. For confluent nonreactive glass cultures the osteoblast expression was mainly concentrated in the clustered cells which were formed upon the monolayer, whereas for confluent bioactive glass cultures the osteoblast expression was more generally distributed. The production of type I collagen, osteocalcin and an osteoblast-specific antigen was shown by immunocytochemistry for all cultures, although differences in distribution were observed. The bioactive layer of bioactive glass is responsible for a better osteoblast-like morphology, a higher proliferation rate and generally a better osteoblast expression.