Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Studies have demonstrated that some drugs can influence the osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs).
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of uric acid on adipogenic differentiation of human BMSCs (hBMSCs).
METHODS: BMSCs were isolated and cultured using the whole bone marrow culture method. Under the adipogenic differentiation condition, BMSCs were exposed to five experimental concentrations of uric acid (0 mmol/L(control group), 0.1 mmol/L, 0.2 mmol/L, 0.4 mmol/L, 0.8mmol/L) for 14 days and 21 days. BMSCs were quantitated under phase-contrast inverted microscope after oil red O staining.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After 14-days treatment with uric acid in adipogenic medium, BMSCs with positive oil red O staining significantly decreased compared to the control group (P < 0.05) and the inhibitory effect was more apparent as the increase in concentration of uric acid (P < 0.05). The inhibitory effect of uric acid on adipogenic differentiation of BMSCs was more significantly at 21 days than at 14 days (P < 0.05). The inhibitory effect also increased more significantly with increasing concentration of uric acid (P < 0.05). The result reveals that uric acid inhibits the adipogenic differentiation of BMSCs in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner.