Long noncoding RNA H19 mediates LCoR to impact the osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of mBMSCs in mice through sponging miR-188.

The research aimed to examine the expression of lncRNA H19, miR-188, and LCoR in mouse bone marrow stromal stem cells (mBMSCs), and to investigate the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA H19/miR-188/LCoR in osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of mBMSCs. The expression of miR-188 in mBMSCs and osteogenesis induced mBMSCs was detected by stem-loop RT-PCR, while the expression of H19 and LCoR in mBMSCs and adipogenesis induced mBMSCs was examined by qRT-PCR. Luciferase reporter assay verified the targeted relationship between miR-188 and H19 or LCoR. Cell proliferation ability was determined by MTT assay, while cell surface markers of mBMSCs were analyzed via flow cytometry. Alkaline phosphatase staining and Alizarin red staining was utilized to detect the osteogenic differentiation capability of mBMSCs, whereas Oil red O staining was applied to examine the ability of adipogenic differentiation of mBMSCs. The expression of miR-188 was lower in osteogenesis induced mBMSCs compared with normal mBMSCs, while H19 and LCoR were downregulated in adipogenic induced mBMSCs. Si-H19 could significantly increase the mRNA level of miR-188. Meanwhile, miR-188 directly regulated LCoR in mBMSCs. Overexpression of miR-188 and knockdown of LCoR suppressed osteogenic differentiation and induced adipogenic differentiation in mBMSCs. Long noncoding RNA H19 mediates LCoR to regulate the balance between osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of mBMSCs in mice through sponging miR-188.