Abstract
Human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) hold great promise in bone regeneration. However, the exact mechanism of osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs remains unknown, especially the role of exosomes played in. The DPSCs were cultured and received osteogenic induction; then, exosomes from osteogenic-induced DPSCs (OI-DPSC-Ex) at different time intervals were isolated and sequenced for circular RNA (circRNA) expression profiles. Gradually, increased circular lysophosphatidic acid receptor 1 (circLPAR1) expression was found in the OI-DPSC-Ex coincidentally with the degree of osteogenic differentiation. Meanwhile, results from osteogenic differentiation examinations showed that the OI-DPSC-Ex had osteogenic effect on the recipient homotypic DPSCs. To investigate the mechanism of exosomal circLPAR1 on osteogenic differentiation, we verified that circLPAR1 could competently bind to hsa-miR-31, by eliminating the inhibitory effect of hsa-miR-31 on osteogenesis, therefore promoting osteogenic differentiation of the recipient homotypic DPSCs. Our study showed that exosomal circRNA played an important role in osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs and provided a novel way of utilization of exosomes for the treatment of bone deficiencies.