Regulatory Effects and Mechanism of Action of Green Tea Polyphenols on Osteogenesis and Adipogenesis in Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells

We previously showed that green tea polyphenols (GTPs) exert antiadipogenic effects on preadipocyte proliferation. Here, we investigated the regulatory effects of GTPs on osteogenesis and adipogenesis during early differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hADSC). Adipogenesis of hADSCs was determined by oil-red-O staining and triglycerides synthesis measurement. Osteoporosis of hADSC was measured using alkaline phosphatase assays and intracellular calcium levels. Immunofluorescence staining and qRT-PCR were used to detect PPARγ-CEBPA regulated adipogenic pathway regulated by PPAR-CEBPA and the osteogenic pathway mediated by RUNX2-BMP2. We found that GTPs treatment significantly decreased lipid accumulation and cellular triglyceride synthesis in mature adipocytes and attenuated pioglitazone-induced adipogenesis in a dose-dependent manner. GTPs downregulated protein and mRNA expression of Pparγ and attenuated pioglitazone-stimulated-Cebpa expression. GTPs treatment significantly enhanced hADSCs differentiation into osteoblasts compared to control and pioglitazone-treated cells. GTPs upregulated RunX2 and Bmp2 proteins and mRNA expression compared to control and significantly attenuated decreased RunX2 and Bmp2 mRNA expression by pioglitazone. In conclusion, our data demonstrates GTPs possesses great ability to facilitate osteogenesis and simultaneously inhibits hADSC differentiation into adipogenic lineage by upregulating the RUNX2-BMP2 mediated osteogenic pathway and suppressing PPARγ-induced signaling of adipogenesis. These findings highlight GTPs’ potential to combat osteoporosis associated with obesity.