Effect of electromagnetic fields on proliferation and differentiation of cultured mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

In order to study the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on proliferation, differentiation and intercellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) in mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)in vitro, the mouse bone MSCs were isolated and culturedin vitro. The third passage MSCs were divided into 4 groups and stimulated with EMFs. The cellular proliferation (MTT), the cellular differentiation (alkaline phosphatase activity, ALP), and the intercellular cAMP level were investigated at different time points. The results showed that EMF (50Hz pulse burst 2 mT peak) inhibited the cellular proliferation (P<0.05), enhanced the cellular differentiation (P<0.05), and increased the intercellular cAMP level (P<0.01) in the early time of the stimulation (1–3 days), but the intercellular cAMP level did not increased further in the later days. We are led to conclude that the cAMP may be involved in the mediation of the growth inhibitory and differentiation-inducing signals of specific EMFsin vitro.