Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of daidzein on osteodifferentiation of stem cells derived from human exfoliated deciduous teeth（SHED）. Methods The 3rd passage SHED were incubated with 1, 10, 100 μmol·L－1daidzein and normal culture medium（control）. Then alkaline phosphatase（AKP） activities were examined at 3, 6 and 9 d, and osteocalcin（OC） in each group was detected at 7, 14 and 21 d. In addition, corebinding factor（cbf）-α1 mRNA expression were detected by RT-PCR at 3, 6 and 9 d after culture. Results 3 d later, AKP activities in SHED were enhanced by 10 μmol·L-1daidzein（vs. control, P-1） daidzein improved AKP activities significantly at 6 and 9 d（vs. control, P-1） daidzein could enhance OC expression in SHED at 14 d after induced culture（vs. control, P-1daidzein could significantly increase cbf -α1 mRNA expression at the 3rd, while 1 μmol·L－1daidzein only slightly increase cbf-α1 mRNA expression; at the 6th and 9th d, however, three concentration daidzein increased cbf-α1 mRNA expression obviously. Conclusion Daidzein could stimulate osteodifferentiation of SHED in vitro, and the possible mechanism is its role of promoting the expression of cbf-α1 gene.
