This study was performed to compare osteogenic capacity according to the scaffold, i.e., calcium metaphosphate on purified bovine collagen (Lubboc®).

Calcium metaphosphate and Lubboc blocks were immersed within a bone marrow cell suspension from New Zealand white male rabbit anterior superior iliac spine to produce cell-biomaterial complexes. These were cultured for 5 weeks in osteogenic media and differences with bone densitometry, light microscopic examination, electron microscopic examination, concentration of osteocalcin from osteoblasts were then evaluated.

In light microscopic examination, more organized tissue was observed in the Lubboc® group. By electron microscopy osteoblasts and the matrix were densely overlapped on the surface of the Lubboc® group, whereas cells were scattered on the calcium metaphosphate. Immunohistologic examination for osteocalcin was definitely positive in the Lubboc® group, but the reaction on the calcium metaphosphate was unclear, and densitometry revealed that Lubboc® (0.028 gms/cm2) showed a statistically significant higher density than calcium metaphosphate (0.026 gms/cm²).

Highly purified bovine collagen was more effective than calcium metaphosphate in osteogenesis in vitro.