Expression of Musashi-1 Increases in Bone Healing Padial Molina, Miguel Crespo Lora, Vicente Martín Morales, Natividad Abril García, Darío Galindo Moreno, Pablo Antonio Hernández Cortés, Pedro Manuel O'Valle Ravassa, Francisco Javier Musashi-1 Runx2 Periostin Mesenchymal stem cells Bone healing The authors of this manuscript were partially supported by Research Groups #CTS-138 and #CTS-1028 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain). This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. All experiments were performed after the approval of the Committee on Animal Research of the University of Granada (CEEA 2014/357) and under the European Union and Spanish regulations for ethics in animal research (EU Directive 63/2010 and Spanish RD 53/2013) and reported following the ARRIVE guidelines. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The authors would especially like to acknowledge the contribution to the histochemical and immunohistochemical studies of Serafin Vélez García and Carmen Ruíz Guzmán, technicians in the Department of Surgery, and María Dolores Rodriguez, in the Department of Pathology and IBIMER of the University of Granada and Justin G. Davis for assistance with the writing style. Musashi-1 (MSI1) is an RNA-binding protein that regulates progenitor cells in adult and developing organisms to maintain self-renewal capacities. The role of musashi-1 in the bone healing environment and its relation with other osteogenic factors is unknown. In the current study, we analyze the expression of MSI1 in an experimental model of rat femoral bone fractures. We also analyze the relation between MSI1 expression and the expression of two osteogenic markers: periostin (POSTN) and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2). We use histological, immunohistochemical, and qPCR techniques to evaluate bone healing and the expression of MSI1, POSTN, and RUNX2 over time (4, 7, and 14 days). We compare our findings with non-fractured controls. We find that in bone calluses, the number of cells expressing MSI1 and RUNX2 increase over time and the intensity of POSTN expression decreases over time. Within bone calluses, we find the presence of MSI1 expression in mesenchymal stromal cells, osteoblasts, and osteocytes but not in hypertrophic chondrocytes. After 14 days, the expression of MSI1, POSTN, and RUNX2 was significantly correlated. Thus, we conclude that musashi-1 potentially serves in the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells and bone healing. Therefore, further studies are needed to determine the possibility of musashi-1 ' s role as a clinical biomarker of bone healing and therapeutic agent for bone regeneration. 2021-05-05T10:33:03Z 2021-05-05T10:33:03Z 2021-03-26 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Padial-Molina, M.; Crespo-Lora, V.; Candido-Corral, C.; Martin-Morales, N.; Abril-Garcia, D.; Galindo-Moreno, P.; Hernandez- Cortes, P.; O’Valle, F. Expression of Musashi-1 Increases in Bone Healing. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22, 3395. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22073395] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/68333 10.3390/ijms22073395 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI