The process of bone formation, remodelling and healing involves a coordinated action of various cell types. Advances in understanding the biology of osteoblast cells during these processes have been enabled through the use of various in vitro culture models from different origins. In an era of intensive bone tissue engineering research, these cell models are more and more often applied due to limited availability of primary human osteoblast cells. While they are a helpful tool in developing novel therapies or biomaterials; concerns arise regarding their phenotypic state and differences in relation to primary human osteoblast cells. In this review we discuss the osteoblastic development of some of the available cell models; such as primary human, rat, mouse, bovine, ovine and rabbit osteoblast cells; as well as MC3T3-E1, MG-63 and SaOs-2 cell lines, together with their advantages and disadvantages. Through this, we provide suggestions on the selection of the appropriate and most relevant osteoblast model for in vitro studies, with specific emphasis on cell-material based studies.

Immortalized cell lines are used more frequently in basic and applied biology research than primary bone-derived cells because of their ease of access and repeatability of results in experiments. It is clear that these cell models do not fully resemble the behavior of primary osteoblast cells. Although the differences will affect the results of biomaterials testing, they are not clearly defined. Here, we focused on comparing proliferation and maturation potential of three osteoblast cell lines, SaOs2, MG-63, and MC3T3-E1 with primary human osteoblast (HOb) cells to assess their suitability as in vitro models for biomaterials testing. We report similarities in cell proliferation and mineralization between primary cells and MC3T3-E1. Both, SaOs2 and MG-63 cells demonstrated a higher proliferation rate than HOb cells. In addition, SaOs2, but not MG-63, cells demonstrated similar ALP activity, mineralization potential and gene regulation to HOb's. Our results demonstrate that despite SaOs-2, MG63, and MC3T3 cells being popular choices for emulating osteoblast behavior, none can be considered appropriate replacements for HOb's. Nevertheless, these cell lines all demonstrated some distinct similarities with HOb's, thus when applied in the correct context are a valuable in vitro pilot model of osteoblast functionality, but should not be used to replace primary cell studies.

The Alamar Blue assay is based on enzymatic reduction of indicator dye by viable cells and serves as an effective tool for assessing cell proliferation and as a screening technique. It can be applied in studies concentrating on animal, plant, yeast, and bacteria cells. Among the various methods for cell viability and cytotoxicity, it utilises all features of ideal and reliable test; it is one-step, sensitive, safe, non-toxic for cells, and cost-effective.

Screening of not preselected donors of different ages and gender (n=12) has shown that the Runx2/Sox9 ratio on day 7 is correlated to the (45)Ca incorporation on day 28. The impact of Sox9 downregulation in the mineralization of human MSCs in vitro indicates a so far unprecedented role of Sox9 as a major regulator of direct osteogenesis. We propose that the Runx2/Sox9 ratio is a promising, early, in vitro screening method for osteogenicity of human MSCs.

The realm of surface-dependent cell and tissue responses is the foundation of orthopaedic-device-related research. However, to design materials that elicit specific responses from tissues is a complex proposition mainly because the vast majority of the biological principles controlling the interaction of cells with implants remain largely ambiguous. Nevertheless, many surface properties, such as chemistry and topography, can be manipulated in an effort to selectively control the cell-material interaction. On the basis of this information there has been much research in this area, including studies focusing on the structure and composition of the implant interface, optimization of biological and chemical coatings and elucidation of the mechanisms involved in the subsequent cell-material interactions. Although a wealth of information has emerged, it also advocates the complexity and dynamism of the cell-material interaction. Therefore, this chapter aims to provide the reader with an introduction to the basic concepts of the cell-material interaction and to provide an insight into the factors involved in determining the cell and tissue response to specific surface features, with specific emphasis on surface microtopography.