Effects of DMEM and RPMI 1640 on the biological behavior of dog periosteum-derived cells

Periosteum-derived cells (PDCs) are being extensively studied as potential tissue engineering seed cells and have demonstrated tremendous promise to date. There is convincing evidence that culture medium could modulate the biological behavior of cultured cells. In this study, we investigate the effects of DMEM (low glucose) and RPMI 1640 on cell growth and cell differentiation of PDCs in vitro. PDCs isolated from Beagle dogs were maintained in DMEM and RPMI 1640, respectively. Then, the cell migration rate of periosteum tissues was analyzed. PDCs of the third passage were harvested for the study of proliferation and osteogenic activity. Proliferation was detected by MTT assay. Alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralized nodules were measured to investigate osteogenic differentiation. Our data demonstrated that DMEM induced alkaline phosphatase activity and strongly stimulated matrix mineralization in cell culture, while similar cell migration rates and proliferation behaviors were observed in the two culture conditions. Interestingly, the osteogenic differentiation of PDCs could be enhanced in DMEM compared with that in RPMI 1640. Thus, it can be ascertained that DMEM may serve as a suitable culture condition allowing osteogenic differentiation of dog PDCs.