Modifying oxygen tension affects bone marrow stromal cell osteogenesis for regenerative medicine.

To establish a hypoxic environment for promoting osteogenesis in rat marrow stromal cells (MSCs) using osteogenic matrix cell sheets (OMCSs). Rat MSCs were cultured in osteogenic media under one of four varying oxygen conditions: Normoxia (21% O In the NN and HN groups, differentiated, cuboidal-shaped cells were readily observed, along with calcium deposits. In the HN group, the levels of secreted osteocalcin increased rapidly from day 10 as compared with the other groups, and plateaued at day 12 ( The results of this study indicate that modifying oxygen tension is an effective method to enhance the osteogenic ability of MSCs used for OMCSs.