Effect of Simvastatin on Bone Marrow Mesenchyma Stem Cells in Osteoporosis Rats

摘要

Osteoporosis (OP) is a common and frequently-occurring disease in orthopedics. BMSCs play a role in OP. Simvastatin (SVA) is a commonly used lipid-lowering drug, but its role in OP remains unclear. Our study intends to assess SVA's effect on BMSCs in osteoporosis rats. SD rats were randomly and equally divided into control group and OP group. BMSCs in control group and OP group were cultured in vitro treated with 5 mu M and 10 mu M SVA followed by analysis of cell proliferation by MTT assay, apoptosis activity by Caspase 3 activity, Wnt5/TGF-beta signaling pathway protein expression by Western blot, ALP activity; Runx2 and OC expression by Real time PCR as well as BMP-2 and TGF-beta secretion by ELISA. OP rat BMSCs showed significantly inhibited cell proliferation, increased Caspase 3 activity, decreased Wnt5, Runx2 and OC expression and ALP activity, as well as reudced BMP-2 and TGF-beta secretion (P < 0.05). SVA can promote cell proliferation, inhibit Caspase 3 activity, increase Wnt5, Runx2 and OC expression and ALP activity, as well as promote BMP-2 and TGF-beta secretion in OP rat BMSCs. Compared with OP group, the difference was statistically significant with more significant changes with increasing concentration (P < 0.05). Simvastatin activates Wnt5/TGF-beta signaling pathway, regulates BMSCs proliferation and apoptosis and promotes their differentiation into osteogenic direction in OP rats.