Abstract: PURPOSE: To explore the effect of cinnamaldehyde(CA) on osteogenic function and BMP-2 expression of mice osteoblast. METHODS: MC3T3-E1 sub-clone 14 cells were cultured in the presence of CA at 0(control group), 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 μg/mL. The cell proliferation rate was measured by MTT assay 1, 3, 5 d after exposure. Activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was detected at 3, 5, 7 d to observe the effect of 6 concentrations of CA on osteoblast function. The mRNA expression of BMP-2 was quantified by real-time PCR(RT-qPCR) 1, 3, 5 d after exposure to (10,20 μg/mL) CA. The data were analyzed by SPSS 17 software package. RESULTS: MTT assay showed that compared with the control group, when 10, 20 μg/mL of CA acted on MC3T3, the absorbance value decreased slightly but the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05), while ALP activity increased significantly. CA increased the mRNA expression of BMP-2 at the concentration of 10, 20 μg/mL (P<0.05),decreased the osteoblast proliferation, ALP activity and the mRNA expression of BMP-2 at the concentration of 40, 80, 160, 320 μg/mL (P<0.05); as the concentration of CA increased, the effects became more significant. CONCLUSIONS: CA(10, 20 μg/mL) exerted positive effects on osteogenic function, increased the ALP activity and the mRNA expression of BMP-2. It is suggested that the activity of osteoblast differentiation and osteogenic function may be related to the expression of BMP-2.

Key words: Cinnamaldehyde, Osteoblast, ALP, BMP-2