The Antiapoptotic Effect of Ghrelin in the H2O2 Treated Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells of Rat

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death and oxidative stress is one of the factors that lead to apoptosis. Ghrelin is a 28 amino acid peptide and its antiapoptotic effects have been shown previously. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ghrelin on cell survival and apoptosis of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs).
BMSCs were cultured as control and H2O2 treated groups with and without different doses of ghrelin (0.1-1-10-100 µM) for 24 and 48 hours. To find out the best dose and time of effect for ghrelin, MTT was used to determine cell survival. BMSC apoptosis rate was detected using the TUNEL technique.
Cultured BMSCs showed that the cells are fibroblastic in appearance and adherent to culture dishes as well as being capable of having a very high proliferation rate. Ghrelin treatment increased proliferation and cell survival in both normal and H2O2 exposed BMSCs. The best dose and time that ghrelin could affect cell proliferation was 100µM and 48 hours respectively. Treatment with ghrelin significantly reduced apoptosis in BMSCs in this dose and time.
Ghrelin treatment causes an increase in BMSCs proliferation and reduction of H2O2 induced apoptosis in these cells.