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 use of metal in fracture fixation has demonstrated unrivalled success for many years owing to its high stiffness, strength, biological toleration and overall reliable function. The most prominent materials used are electropolished stainless steel and commercially pure titanium, along with the more recent emergence of titanium alloys. Despite the many differences between electropolished stainless steel and titanium, both materials provide a relatively predictable clinical outcome, and offer similar success for fulfilling the main biomechanical and biological requirements of fracture fixation despite distinctive differences in implant properties and biological responses. This article explores these differences by highlighting the limitations and advantages of both materials, and addresses how this translates to clinical success.

The isotonic PAGGSM prevented the initial RBC swelling caused by citrate-phosphate-dextrose less than hypertonic SAGM, but reduced the spontaneous haemolysis rate and osmotic fragility after 42 days of storage. All other parameters, such as echinocytosis, decreased RBC deformability and aggregability, and increased blood viscosity was similar for both additive solutions and remained a major problem of blood banking.

Equal channel angular extrusion has been used to deform an Al ± 3 wt-%Mg alloy to an effective strain of 10, resulting in a 0 . 2 mm grain size. In the as deformed condition the yield strength was increased to y500 MPa. During annealing the grain structure coarsened uniformly and the yield stress was found to follow the Hall ± Petch relationship, even in the submicron range. There was an abrupt transition in elongation at a grain size of y0 . 5 mm. Samples with smaller grain sizes showed no uniform elongation and limited ductility. For slightly greater grain sizes there was only a relatively small reduction in elongation, compared to a coarse grained material, while the yield stress was still increased by a factor of over four. Reducing the grain size to the submicron range led to far higher Lu Èders strains than are normally observed in Al ± Mg alloys.MST/4770