Figure 6.

Effect of medium flow on the secretion of bone-related proteins from primary human osteoblasts cultured on TiO₂ scaffolds. Concentration (in ng/mL) of (A) dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK-1), (B) osteoprotegrin (OPG), (C) interleukin-6 (IL-6), (D) interleukin-8 (IL-8), (E) monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and (F) vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the culture media of two different human osteoblasts donors without flow (static) and with continuous flow. The culture media of the static and perfused samples were pooled from two scaffolds. A flow rate of 0.16 mL/min was conducted with donor 1 (isolated from the tibia), and a flow rate of 0.08 mL/min was conducted with donor 2 (isolated from the humerus). Values represent the mean ± SD. Significant differences were analyzed using a SigmaPlot Holm-Sidak test. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001 indicate significance compared to staticgroup. Statistical comparison between the two perfusion groups was not performed due to the use of two different osteoblast donors.