The osteogenic properties of novel bioactive and nanostructured biomaterials for mesenchymal stromal cell differentiation

Soybeans have been in the human diet since the first millennium BC. They contain three major types of isoflavone, genistein, daidzein and glycitein. All three have been shown to have a powerful antioxidant effect and bind to oestrogen receptor beta with high specificity. It has been demonstrated that dietary soybeans favourably impact bone health in postmenopausal women by lowering the incidence of osteoporosis. The literature shows that genistein supplementation reduces marrow stromal cell (MSC) differentiation to an adipocytic pathway and may favourably stimulate osteogenesis. More recently soybean biomaterials (SB) have been developed which contain significant levels of isoflavones and have shown bone regeneration potential in vivo.