Absence of Glutamine Supplementation Prevents Differentiation of Murine Calvarial Osteoblasts to a Mineralizing Phenotype.

Osteoblasts in vitro differentiate from a proliferating to a mineralizing phenotype upon transfer to a medium rich in beta-glycerophosphate and ascorbic acid. The nutritional requirements of the cells at different stages of this differentiation process are not known. In other cell types, nutritional supplementation during surgery can improve the outcome in terms of speed of patient recovery and prognosis. There is therefore the potential for supplementation at the site of fracture repair or bone grafting with critical osteoblast nutritional factors to potentially accelerate healing. Brown PM, Hutchison JD, Crockett JC. Calcif Tissue Int. 2011 Oct 5. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 21972050