Melatonin Influences the Proliferative and Differentiative Activity of Rat Adipose-Derived Stem Cells

This study was performed to determine whether melatonin atphysiological concentrations (0.01-10nm) could affect the proliferation andosteogenic differentiation of rat adscs in vitro.materials and methods: adscs were isolated from the fat of adult rats. aftercell expansion in culture media and through three passages , osteogenesiswas induced on a monolayer culture with osteogenic medium with or withoutmelatonin at physiological concentrations (0.01-10nm). after 4 weeks cultureswere examined for mineralization by alizarin red s and von kossa staining andfor alkaline phosphatase (alp) activity by alp kit. cell viability and apoptosiswere also assayed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylth iazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)2-(4-ulfophenyl)-2h-tetrazolium assay and flowcytometry, respectively. allassays were performed in triplicate.results : the results indicated that at physiological concentrations, melatoninsuppressed proliferation and differentiation of adscs . these data indicate thatadscs exposed to melatonin, had a lower alp activity in contrast to the cellsexposed to the osteogenic medium alone . similarly, the mineral deposition(calcium level) also decreased. the flow cytometry proved that the cell growthdecreased and the apoptotic cells increased.conclusion: these results suggest that physiological concentration ofmelatonin has a negative effect on adscs osteogenesis.