The effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields on the cellular activity of SaOS‐2 cells

Abstract

Although pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) have been used for treatments of nonunion bone fracture healing for more than three decades, the underlying cellular mechanism of bone formation promoted by PEMFs is still unclear. It has been observed that a series of parameters such as pulse shape and frequency should be carefully controlled to achieve effective treatments. In this article, the effects of PEMFs with repetitive pulse burst waveform on the cellular activity of SaOS-2 osteoblast-like cells were investigated. In particular, cell proliferation and mineralization due to the imposed PEMFs were assessed through direct cell counts, the MTT assay, tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Alizarin Red S (ARS) staining. PEMF stimulation with repetitive pulse burst waveform did not affect metabolic activity and cell number. However, the ALP activity of SaOS-2 cells and mineral nodule formation increased significantly after PEMF stimulation. These observations suggest that repetitive pulse burst PEMF does not affect cellular metabolism; however, it may play a role in the enhancement of SaOS-2 cell mineralization. We are currently investigating cellular responses under different PEMF waveforms and Western blots for protein expression of bone mineralization specific proteins.

Application of Low-Frequency Alternating Current Electric Fields Via Interdigitated Electrodes: Effects on Cellular Viability, Cytoplasmic Calcium, and Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

“…Comparative results have been reported by Martino et al, where SaOS-2 cells were cultured in an AC electric field of 9 mV/cm at 15 Hz. 29 They reported no effect on proliferation or increases in alkaline phosphatase activity. However, visual inspection of the cultures demonstrated a large presence of bone-like nodules and the cells produced 2.5Â more calcium than unstimulated controls.…”

3D conductive nanocomposite scaffold for bone tissue engineering

“…2 That can explain why external electric and electromagnetic stimulation have progressive influence in bone healing treatment. [3][4][5] It was shown that such stimulations modify osteoblast activities including adhesion, proliferation, 6 nodule formation, 7 gene expression, 8 protein synthesis, 9 and bone formation markers.…”

Osteogenic differentiation of electrostimulated human mesenchymal stem cells seeded on silk-fibroin films

“…Adsorption of serum proteins, specifically fibronectin (FN), was induced by electric fields and facilitated cell attachment onto electrodes (Kotwal and Schmidt, 2001). Electric fields of 15 Hz and 9 mV/cm on SAOS-2 cells resulted in significantly increased mineral nodule formation after electrostimulation (Martino et al, 2008). In another study, mineral deposition increased in stimulated groups relative to control groups under electric fields of 1 Hz, 1 V/cm (McCullen et al, 2010).…”