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Updated: Aug 24, 2025

Isolation and Enrichment of Human Adipose-derived Stromal Cells for Enhanced Osteogenesis
Published on: January 12, 2015
Bone Marrow Stromal Stem Cell Fate Decision: A Potential Mechanism For Bone Marrow Adipose Increase with
Li Tian1, Lingyun Lu2, Yang Meng3
1Laboratory of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Endocrinology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
Objective:
Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease that seriously threatens the health and quality of life in middle-aged and older adults. In this review, we describe the relationship between bone marrow adipose tissue and aging osteoporosis and mainly focus on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell osteogenic-adipose differentiation fate with aging along with the relevant mechanisms responsible for these changes.
Methods:
We summarized recent advances in regulating the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell differentiation due to aging in this review.
Results:
Aging-related bone mass loss is accompanied by expanding bone marrow adipose because of an imbalance of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, resulting in adipogenesis. Ectopic adipocytes in the bone marrow increase with age and are a key factor responsible for the aging-related bone mass decrease. Transcription factors and classical regulating pathways are involved in this process during aging.
Conclusion:
As the global aging population increases, not only older women but also older men face a great fracture risk. Therefore, finding molecular mechanisms controlling the stimulating adipogenesis in BMSC during aging is important for providing the new cue for prevention and therapeutics for aging-related bone loss. Furthermore, upon physical examination of older people, except for the bone mineral density and bone turnover biochemical marker, the bone marrow adipose measurement should be taken into account when assessing the fracture risk and treatment plan that will be beneficial in clinical practice.
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