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Updated: Apr 8, 2026
Isolation, Culture, and Differentiation of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells and Osteoclast Progenitors from Mice
Published on: January 6, 2018
Intermittent Stretching and Osteogenic Differentiation of Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells via the
Wen-lin Xiao1, Dai-zun Zhang, Cun-hui Fan
1The Key Laboratory of Oral Medicine, Shandong Province Education Department; Department of Stomatology, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University; Qingdao, People's Republic of China.
Aims:
The relationship between the p38MAPK signaling pathway and osterix in osteogenic differentiation of BMMSCs subjected to intermittent stretching was investigated.
Methods:
BMMSCs derived from C57BL/6J mice were divided into the following groups: 1) control, 2) stretch, and 3) SB203580+stretch (SB203580 is a p38MAPK signal pathway inhibitor). BMMSCs were exposed to an intermittent mechanical strain of 0.8% (8000μ strain) at 0.5 Hz, twice a day for 30 min each application. BMMSCs were harvested on days 1, 3, and 5 post-treatment. The expression of ALP, COL I, OCN, and osterix mRNA was assessed utilizing RT-PCR while the expression of P-p38MAPK and osterix protein was assessed by Western blot analysis. The osterix gene in mouse BMMSCs was knocked down using RNAi technology and its protein expression was also assessed by Western blot. RT-PCR was used to detect ALP, COL I, and OCN mRNA expression.
Results:
Intermittent stretching was found to promote expression of ALP, COL I, OCN, and osterix mRNA. Silencing the osterix gene was found to reduce levels of ALP, COL I, and OCN mRNA. Western blot analysis demonstrated that the levels of osterix and P-p38MAPK proteins in the stretch group were significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.05). There was less expression of ALP, COL I, OCN, and osterix mRNA in the SB203580+stretch group than in the control and stretch groups.
Conclusions:
Data demonstrate that intermittent stretching promotes osteogenic differentiation of BMMSCs, and the p38MAPK-osterix pathway has an important role in the control of osteogenesis-related gene expression.
