Stimulatory G protein-mediated cAMP signaling is intimately involved in skeletal homeostasis. However, limited information is available on the role of the cAMP signaling in regulating the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into mature osteoblasts and adipocytes. To investigate this, we treated primary mouse bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) with forskolin to stimulate cAMP signaling and ...

Although thyroid hormone (TH) is known to exert important effects on the skeleton, the nuclear factors constituting the TH receptor coactivator complex and the molecular pathways by which TH mediates its effects on target gene expression in osteoblasts remain poorly understood. A recent study demonstrated that the actions of TH on myoblast differentiation are dependent on diabetes- and obesity-...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been identified in human dental tissues. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) were classified within MSC family, are multipotent, can be isolated from adult teeth, and have been shown to differentiate, under particular conditions, into various cell types including osteoblasts. In this work, we investigated how the differentiation process of DPSCs toward osteoblasts ...

Human adipose-tissue-derived stromal cells (hADSCs) are abundant in adipose tissue and can differentiate into multi-lineage cell types, including adipocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes. In order to define the optimal harvest site of adipose tissue harvest site, we solated hADSCs from different subcutaneous sites (upper abdomen, lower abdomen, and thigh) and compared their proliferation and p...

The activities of osteoclasts, which degrade bone, and osteoblasts, which form bone, are coordinated to maintain bone homeostasis. Zhao et al. (2006) now demonstrate bidirectional signaling between these two cell populations via the transmembrane ligand ephrinB2 expressed by osteoclasts and its receptor EphB4 expressed by osteoblasts. Such bidirectional signaling limits osteoclast activity whil...

We examined the osteoblast/osteocyte expression and function of polycystin-1 (PC1), a transmembrane protein that is a component of the polycystin-2 (PC2)-ciliary mechano-sensor complex in renal epithelial cells. We found that MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts and MLO-Y4 osteocytes express transcripts for PC1, PC2, and the ciliary proteins Tg737 and Kif3a. Immunohistochemical analysis detected cilia-like str...

Recent studies demonstrate widespread expression of ghrelin among tissues and have uncovered its pleiotropic nature. We have examined gene expression of ghrelin and its two receptor splice variants, growth hormone secretagogue receptors (GHS-R) 1a and 1b, in human bone biopsies and in the human pre-osteoblastic SV-HFO cell line during differentiation. Additionally, we examined proliferative eff...

Di-ethanolamine (DEA) is a well-known environmental pollutant used in manufacturing soap, detergent, body lotion, and other sanitary products. DEA has been reported to cause cytotoxicity in different tissue and cell, but no study was found to explain the toxic effect of DEA on rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) differentiation. Thus in the present study, the differentiation property...

OBJECTIVE Runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) and osterix (OSX) as two specific osteoblast transcription factors and distal-less homeobox 5 (DLX5) as a non-specific one are of paramount importance in regulating osteoblast related genes including osteocalcin, bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteopontin and collagen type Iα1. The present study sets out to investigate whether epigenetic regulatio...

Bone development is dynamically regulated by homeostasis, in which a balance between adipocytes and osteoblasts is maintained. Disruption of this differentiation balance leads to various bone-related metabolic diseases, including osteoporosis. In the present study, a primate-specific microRNA (miR-637) was found to be involved in the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Our ...