ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of microRNA-20a(MiR-20a) on osteogenic differentiation of mouse C3H/10T1/2 cells and its regulatory mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Osteogenic differentiation of C3H/10T1/2 cells were identified by ALP staining and qRT-PCR. MiR-20a mimics and CKIP-1 siRNA were transfected into C3H/10T1/2 cells respectively with lipo3000. The expression of osteoblast marker genes, miR-20a and CKIP-1 were quantitatively assessed by qRT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>miR-20a expression was up-regulated during osteoblast differentiation of C3H/10T1/2 cells. Overexpression of miR-20a promoted osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, miR-20a inhibited the expression of bone formation negative regulator CKIP-1. Additionally, CKIP-1 knockdown promoted osteogenic differentiation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>MiR-20a promotes osteogenic differentiation of C3H/10T1/2 cells possibly through inhibiting the expression of CKIP-1.</p>