Effects of simvastatin on Cbfa1, Cbfb and Osterix expressions in human bone marrow stromal cells

    YU Xiangª²Qian, ZHANG Liu, CAI Jun

    Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital, North China Coal Medical College, Tangshan 063000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To study the effects of simvastatin on osteoblastic differentiation and proliferation of human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSC), and investigate the mechanism of the effects of simvastatin on hBMSC. METHODS: hBMSC derived from patients with femur fracture were cultured in vitro. After subª²culturing, the medium of treatment group were added 10-7 mol/L simvastatin. Semiª²quantitative RTª²PCR was performed for evaluatª²ing the expressions of Cbfa1, Cbfb and Osterix (OSX) mRNA. Cellular alkaline activity and mineralization were examined by ALP measurement kit and Alizarin Redª²S staining. Cell Count Kitª²8 (CCKª²8) was used to examine proliferation. RESULTS: The expressions of Cbfa1 and OSX mRNA in treatment group were higher than those of the control group at 3, 6, 9, 12 d (P<0.01), but no significant effects were observed on the expression of Cbfb mRNA in both groups (P>0.05); The activity of ALP in treatment group was higher than that of the control group at 3 d (54.05¡À1.14 vs 63.54¡À2.99, P<0.05), 6 d (60.53¡À3.08 vs 70.39¡À3.98, P<0.01), 9 d (72.93¡À0.85 vs 86.28¡À1.20, P<0.01), 12 d (74.13¡À1.79 vs 94.99¡À3.20, P<0.01); Simvastatin enhanced osteoblastª²mediated mineralization; Compared with control group, the proliferation of hBMSC was inhibited in treatment group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Simvastatin can promote osteoblastic differentiation and inhibit the proliferation of hBMSC by increasing the expressions of Cbfa1, OSX mRNA. ......