MicroRNA array analysis of mature microRNAs of adipogenic differentiated human bone marrow stromal cells

In bone marrow, mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs), the precursors of adipocytes and osteoblasts, are exposed to a plethora of stimuli that determine the balance between adipogenesis and osteogenesis which in turn are competing and reciprocal. The differentiation of BMSCs, in fact, is a two-step process, lineage commitment (from MSCs to lineage-specific pro-genitors) and maturation (from progenitors to specific cell types). Adipogenesis is a finely tuned multi-step process requiring the sequential activation of numerous transcription factors driving the typical physiological and morphological changes observed in the progenitor cells, i.e., cell cycle arrest, metabolic reprogramming, and lipid accumulation. Among the small non-coding RNAs, microRNAs represent an additional mechanism for controlling adipogenic gene expression. Given their unique ability to simultaneously regulate multiple protein targets and processes, it has been suggested that microRNAs may play a leading role in BMSC differentiation. Here, we evaluated miRNAs differentially regulated during human BMSC adipogenic differentiation in vitro. MicroRNA expression profile obtained from qRT-PCR of hBMSCs treated under adipogenic conditions for 14 days compared to untreated hBMSCs.