New strategy to rescue the inhibition of osteogenesis of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells under oxidative stress: combination of vitamin C and graphene foams

// Zubin Zhou 1, * , Zhengliang Xu 1, * , Feng Wang 1 , Ye Lu 1 , Peipei Yin 1 , Chaolai Jiang 1 , Yingjie Liu 1 , Hua Li 2 , Xiaowei Yu 1 , Yuqiang Sun 1 1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200233, China 2 State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Xiaowei Yu, email: yuxw@sjtu.edu.cn Yuqiang Sun, email: sunyq@21cn.net Keywords: osteogenesis, mesenchymal stem cell, oxidative stress, vitamin C, graphene foams Received: July 18, 2016 Accepted: September 29, 2016 Published: October 04, 2016 ABSTRACT To rescue the oxidative stress induced inhibition of osteogenesis, vitamin C (VC) was chemically modified onto three-dimensional graphene foams (3D GFs), then their regulation on osteogenesis of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) was studied. Combined action of VC + GF significantly decreased H 2 O 2 -induced oxidative stress, and rescued H 2 O 2 -inhibited cell viability, differentiation and osteogenesis of BM-MSCs in vitro . Further studies revealed that Wnt pathway may be involved in this protection of osteogenesis. Furthermore, an in vivo mouse model of BM-MSCs transplantation showed that VC + GF remarkably rescued oxidative stress inhibited calcium content and bone formation. The combination of VC and GF exhibited more pronounced protective effects against oxidative stress induced inhibition of osteogenesis, compared to monotherapy of VC or GF. Our study proposed a new strategy in stem cell-based therapies for treating bone diseases.