Abstract:Objective To clarify the ability of neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) in promoting the differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) into osteoblasts, and analyze the mechanism of Wnt pathway. Methods Normal cultured hMSCs were into control group, hMSCs stimulated by NT-3 were into NT-3 group, hMSCs added with ICG-001 acting for 30 min before stimulation of NT-3 were taken as Wnt inhibitor group. The experiment of osteogenic induction was performed in each group. MTT, ELISA, Western blot and alizarin red staining were used to detect hMSC proliferation, apoptosis, alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP), bone morphogenetic protein-1 (BMP-1) and other proteins, and ability of calcium nodule formation res-pectively in each group. Results Compared with the control group, the OD value of hMSC proliferation in the NT-3 group significantly increased (P < 0.01); the expressions of ALP, BMP-1 and other proteins, and the effect of alizarin red staining of the NT-3 group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.01). Compared with the NT-3 group, the OD value of hMSC proliferation in the Wnt inhibitor group significantly decreased (P < 0.01); the expressions of ALP, BMP-1 and other proteins of the Wnt inhibitor group were lower than those in the NT-3 group (P < 0.01). Conclusions NT-3 promotes the proliferation and osteo-genic differentiation of hMSCs through Wnt pathway