Exosomes from gingival mesenchymal stem cells enhance migration and osteogenic differentiation of pre-osteoblasts

Gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) have great potential in bone tissue regeneration. However, it is not well known how on exosomes derived from GMSCs affect the functions of bone-related cells. In this study, we explored the impact of GMSCs-derived exosomes (GMSCs-Exos) on pre-osteoblast MC3T3-E1 proliferation, migration and osteogenic differentiation. Results of CCK-8 assay showed that GMSCs-Exos had no effect on proliferation of pre-osteoblasts. Further, we found that GMSCs-Exos promoted the migration of pre-osteoblasts and osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 as revealed by enhanced Alizarin red staining, elevated alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and upregulated expression of osteogenic genes. This study provides new insights into the potential exosome-mediated paracrine mechanism of GMSCs in bone regeneration.