Cerium oxide nanoparticles inhibit adipogenesis in rat mesenchymal stem cells: potential therapeutic implications.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Cerium oxide nanoparticles (nanoceria, NC) have extraordinary antioxidant activity that made them suitable as a therapeutic agent for several diseases where reactive oxygen species (ROS) act by impairing the normal redox balance. Among different functions, it has been proven that ROS are cellular messengers involved in the adipogenesis we thus investigated the implication of NC administration in the potential inhibition of adipogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) used as a model of adipogenesis. METHODS: We evaluated cytotoxic effects and adipogenic maturation of mesenchymal stem cells following in vitro NC administration, both at gene and at phenotype level. RESULTS: Overall, our results demonstrated that NC efficiently inhibit the maturation of MSCs toward adipocytes owing to their ability to reduce the production of the ROS necessary during adipogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: These findings, even if preliminary, represent an important step toward the potential pharmaceutical application of NC in the treatment of obesity.