Gene expression profiles associated with osteoblasts differentiated from bone marrow stromal cells

Objective: To study the changes of gene expression profiles associated with osteoblasts differentiated from rat bone marrow stromal cells in vitro by gene chip technique. Methods: rat Bone marrow stromal cells were isolated and cultured, and differentiation was induced by dexamethasone, beta -glycerol phosphate and vitamin C. Cellular mRNA was extracted and reverse transcribed into cDNA, thus related genes expression differences were detected by gene expression profile chip. Results: Calcifying nodules were visible in the induced cells. There were 27.7% genes expressed differentially, three times more than the normal and induced cells, and some genes were related to transcription, translation, glycosylation modification. Extracellular matrix, signal molecules and metabolism were up-regulated. Conclusions: The gene chip technique can be used to detect the multi-gene different expression in the differentiation-induceed rat BMSCs, and these differentially expressed genes are necessary genes related to rat BMSCs proliferation and induction of osteoblastic differentiation.