Pulsed electromagnetic fields promote the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts by reinforcing intracellular calcium transients.

Author: Tong J1, Sun L1, Zhu B2, Fan Y2, Ma X1, Yu L1, Zhang J1
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China. <sup>2</sup>Xi Jing University, Xi'an, China.
Conference/Journal: Bioelectromagnetics.
Date published: 2017 Aug 18
Other: Special Notes: doi: 10.1002/bem.22076. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 184


Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) can be used to treat bone-related diseases, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear, especially the process by which PEMFs initiate biological effects. In this study, we demonstrated the effects of PEMF on proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts using the model of calcium transients induced by high extracellular calcium. Our results showed that PEMF can increase both the percentage of responding cells and amplitude of intracellular calcium transients induced by high extracellular calcium stimulation. Compared with corresponding extracellular calcium levels, PEMF stimulation increased proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts and related gene expressions, such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), and osteocalcin (OCN), which can be completely abolished by BAPTA-AM. Moreover, PEMF did not affect proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts if no intracellular calcium transient was present in osteoblasts during PEMF exposure. Our results revealed that PEMF affects osteoblast proliferation and differentiation through enhanced intracellular calcium transients, which provided a cue to treat bone-related diseases with PEMF. Bioelectromagnetics. 2017;9999:XX-XX. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

KEYWORDS: PEMF; differentiation; intracellular calcium transients; osteoblasts; proliferation

PMID: 28833306 DOI: 10.1002/bem.22076