Serotonin stimulates the growth of bone marrow stromal cells

Objective:To explore the effect of 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT) on proliferation of bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs) in vitro.Methods:Murine BMSCs colony-forming unit assay and human bone marrow mononuclear cells count assay were used respectively to determine the effect on proliferation of BMSCs with different dose 5-HT(0,50,100,200,500nM) and 5-HT combined with basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF),platelet-derived growth factor(PDGF),and ventricular endothelial growth factor(VEGF).Reversal transcript polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) was used to detect expression of mRNA of 5-HT2 receptor subtypes.Results:The results showed that 5-HT significantly stimulated murine colony-forming unit formation(CFU-F) proliferation in a dose-dependent manner(50 to 500nM) using murine bone marrow cells( n =3).Maxmum stimulation was obtained with 200nM of 5-HT( P =0.03).The effect of 5-HT on murine CFU-F proliferation was compared with that of bFGF,PDGF and VEGF at their optimal dose.The stimulating activity of 5-HT was the same as that of PDGF and VEGF,but lower than that of bFGF.A significantly enhancing effect was observed in 5-HT plus bFGF,PDGF,and VEGF,respectively.We also found that 5-HT,or 5-HT plus bFGF,PDGF,and VEGF had similar effect on human bone marrow stromal cells proliferation.There were expression of mRNA of 5-HT 2A,2B and 2C receptor subtypes on human bone marrow stromal cells.Conclusion:These data indicate that 5-HT has a significant mitogenic effect on BMSCs in vitro and enhance proliferating effect of bFGF,PDGF,and VEGF on BMSCs.This effect of 5-HT on BMSCs appears to be mediated via 5-HT2 receptor subtypes.