Objective: To observe whether vitamin C (Vc) can promote the proliferation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) derived from aging individuals by increasing telomerase activity.
Methods: The bone-specific premature aging mice (SAMP6) were used as the experimental group, and the R strain mice (SAMR1) without premature aging were used as the control group. Micro-CT scanning technology was used to verify the bone aging phenotype of the SAMP6 mice. The BMMSCs of two groups of mice were isolated and cultured, and the BMMSCs derived from SAMP6 mice were treated with different concentrations of Vc respectively. The proliferation ability of BMMSCs was detected by MTT method, the growth curve was drawn, telomerase activity was detected by telomerase kit, and the expression level of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) was detected by PCR and Western blot methods.
Results: SAMP6 mice had a bone aging phenotype. The proliferation ability and telomerase activity of BMMSCs derived from SAMP6 mice were lower than those of BMMSCs derived from SAMR1 mice, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). After adding Vc, the proliferation ability of BMMSCs derived from SAMP6 mice was significantly improved with the increase of Vc concentration within a certain concentration range (P<0.05), and the telomerase activity and TERT expression levels were also increased (P<0.05). , which is related to proliferation ability. Among them, the optimum concentration of Vc to play a promoting effect is 100 μg/mL, and it has an inhibitory effect at 1000 μg/mL.
Conclusion: Vitamin C can enhance the proliferation of BMMSCs derived from aging individuals, and this effect may be achieved by increasing the activity of telomerase.