Effect of bovine lactoferrin on proliferation and differentiation in primary rat osteoblast in vitro

Objective To evaluate the effect of different concentrations of lactoferrin(LF) on proliferation and differentiation in osteoblast in vitro. Methods Primary rat osteoblasts were harvested by mixed enzyme from neonatal calvaria of Sprague Dawley rats and then cultured.After treated with different concentrations of LF (0,0.1,1,10,100,1 000 μg/mL) for 1,3,5,7 days, the cell proliferation was analyzed by MTT methods; PNPP methods was used to evaluate the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of osteoblast. Results Different concentrations of LF except 0.1 μg/mL LF can improve proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts at different times.To proliferation,there is no significant differences at the concentration of 10 and 100 μg/mL with control group(P0.05) on the 7th day,and the concentration of 1 000 μg/mL LF is much lower than the control group(P0.01) on the 5th and the 7th days.To ALP activity,the concentration of 1 000 μg/mL on the 7th day showed the highest ALP activity. Conclusion Functions of osteoblasts including proliferation and ALP activity were improved along with the increasing of the concentration and processing time of LF in a specific range.