Caffeic Acid-coated Nanolayer on Mineral Trioxide Aggregate Potentiate the Host Immune Responses, Angiogenesis, and Odontogenesis

Abstract Introduction The aim of this study was to investigate whether mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) can be modified with caffeic acid (CA) to form caffeic acid/ mineral trioxide aggregate (CAMTA) cement and to evaluate for its physicochemical and biological properties, as well as its capability in immune suppression and angiogenesis. Methods MTA was immersed in tris-buffer with CA to allow coating onto MTA powders. XRD and tensile stress-strain tests were conducted to assess for physical characteristics of CAMTA and to evaluate for successful modification of MTA. Then, the CAMTA cement was immersed in SBF to evaluate for its hydroxyapatite formation capabilities and Si release profiles. In addition, RAW 264.7 cells and human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) were used to evaluate for its immune-suppressive capabilities and cell responses respectively. hDPSCs were also used to assess for CAMTA’s angiogenic capabilities. Results The XRD results showed that CA can be successfully coated onto MTA without disrupting or losing of MTA’s original structural properties, thus allowing us to retain initial advantages of MTA. CAMTA was shown to have higher mechanical properties as compared to MTA and had rougher pitted surfaces which were hypothesized to lead to enhanced adhesion, proliferation and secretion of angiogenic and odontogenic related proteins. In addition, it was found that CAMTA was able to enhance hydroxyapatite formation and immune-suppressive capabilities as compared to MTA. Conclusions CAMTA cements were found to have improved physicochemical and biological characteristics as compared to its counterpart. In addition, CAMTA cements had enhanced odontogenic, angiogenic, as well as immuno-suppressive properties as compared to MTA. All results in this study proved that CAMTA cements would be a biomaterial for future clinical applications and tissue engineering used.