| In this study, hydroxyapatite (HA) nanoparticles were prepared from natural bone and doped with zinc (Zn-HA)
by solid state reaction method. Structural characteristics of both samples were analyzed using transmission
electron microscopy, synchrotron small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering techniques, which showed flake-like
shape for HA and Zn-HA nanoparticles with an average diameter of 82 nm, and hexagonal crystal structure
whose crystallinity increased with Zn doping. The osteogenic differentiation impact of nanoparticles was
investigated on mesenchymal stem cells using alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, alizarin red staining (ARS)
and real time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analyses. The alkaline phosphatase activity of the
stem cells in the presence of HA and Zn-HA nanoparticles in culture media increased by 2.6 and 4.3 times after
two weeks, respectively. The results of ARS analysis demonstrated a signifcant increase in calcifcation of the
culture media due to Zn doping. The results of gene expression from RT-PCR analysis revealed that the expression
level of ALP, RUNX2, OPN, and OCN increased due to the presence of the nanoparticles, especially for the Zn-HA |