Effects of vitamin C on adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in rabbits

Objective To identify the effect of vitamin C (Vc) on adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in rabbits. Methods BMSCs of rabbits were induced for adipogenic differentiation in adipogenic differentiation medium supplemented by different concentrations of Vc (0-150 μg/ml). The cells were observed at 4, 7, 10, 14 and 21 days after adipogenic differentiation and the degree of adipogenesis was measured by Oil Red O staining extraction assay. The mRNA expressions of adipogenic differentiation-related genes PPARγ, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ were assayed by real-time quantitative PCR. Results Compared to the group without Vc, increased adipogenesis was observed in all groups supplemented with different concentrations of Vc both in Oil red staining and gene expression. The quantification of Oil Red O staining at 50μg/ml was 1.373±0.099, which was higher than other groups (0.720±0.011), (0.879±0.023), (0.915±0.159), (1.088±0.066), (0.908±0.162) with statistically significant differences (P＜ 0.01). The highest expression level of PPARγ, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ mRNA in 50μg/ml group was (5.82±0.24), (5.41±0.42), (5.14±0.54), respectively, which were higher than other groups and the differences were statistically significant (P＜ 0.01). Conclusion Vc can promote adipogenic differentiation of MSCs with the optimal concentration of 50μg/ml.