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The ability of a cholesterol-reducing drug, simvastatin, to stimulate the formation of hydroxyapatite in an osteoblast-like cell line, was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Hydroxyapatite was detected using both Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and von Kossa staining techniques a week earlier when cells were cultured in growth media supplemented with simvastatin in a tissue culture polystyrene system. Analysis of infrared spectra using area integration and curve-fitting techniques was performed to quantify the hydroxyapatite content in cells relative to the biological matrix. Infrared spectroscopy was used to quantify the mineralization process. Cells grown in a rotating bioreactor mineralized more rapidly than cells grown in tissue culture polystyrene systems.

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Alka Potdar has a BS in Chemical Engineering (ChE) from University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India, MS in ChE from University of Alabama, Huntsville and a PhD in ChE from Vanderbilt University, Nashville. She is currently a Research Associate at Case Western Reserve University in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic at Cleveland.

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