Microarray technology for gene expression profiling has evolved rapidly and provides a powerful tool in
studying differentiation. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are members of the TGF-beta superfamily of growth
factors. To investigate the expression of genes that contribute to BMP-7-dependent osteogenesis during osteoblastic
differentiation, we performed gene expression profiling on BMP-7-treated mouse mesenchymal stem cells. Specifically,
D1 cells (mesenchymal stem cells) were cultured in osteogenic differentiation medium (ODM) for 3 days,
and next treated with BMP-7 for 24 h. Total RNA was extracted using TRIzol and purified on RNeasy columns.
Total RNA was amplified and purified using the Ambion Illumina RNA kit to yield biotinylated cRNA. We analyzed
up- and down-regulation of genes by 1.5-fold expression, devided genes into two categories: biological process and
molecular function. The two categories consisted of 51 groups containing 25,697 genes. We detected 370 mRNAs
that were differentially up-regulated after BMP-7 stimulation, and 332 that were differentially down-regulated.
These data indicate that BMP-7 regulates the expression of various genes during osteoblastic differentiation.