BioProject

Extracellular nucleotides are potent signaling molecules mediating cell-specific biological functions. More...

Extracellular nucleotides are potent signaling molecules mediating cell-specific biological functions. We previously demonstrated that adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) inhibits the proliferation while stimulating the migration, in vitro and in vivo, of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-hMSC). Here, we investigated the effects of ATP on BM-hMSC differentiation capacity. Molecular analysis showed that ATP treatment modulated the expression of several genes (e.g. wnt-pathway-related genes) governing osteoblastic and adipogenic differentiation of MSCs. Functional studies demonstrated that ATP, under specific culture conditions, stimulated adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation by significantly increasing the lipid accumulation and the expression levels of the adipogenic master gene PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma) and by promoting the mineralization and the expression of the osteoblast-related gene RUNX2 (Runt-related transcription factor 2), respectively. Overall design: BM-hMSCs cells were transiently exposed to ATP 1mM for 24 hours (ATP pre-treatment) before starting differentiation induction. Then, BM-hMSCs were cultured under adipogenic/osteogenic conditions. Gene Expression Profile was performed on differentiate cells after 3 weeks of induction culture. Less...