Broiler mesenchymal stem cells and curcumin: Evaluation of curcumin differentiation potential on broiler adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract Excessive body fat deposition is poultry production challenge. Curcumin impact on inhibiting fatty acid biosynthesis and increasing glycogen synthesis, were evaluated in different researches. So, the current study aims to identify the effect of curcumin on broiler stem cells differentiation. Isolated cells were cultured for 4–7 days and the growth pattern was evaluated. To investigate curcumin impact, the cells in passage 2 were treated and compared with basal differentiation medium and curcumin in the concentration of 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 µM in 11 days; furthermore, the MTT assay was done to evaluate curcumin toxify. The osteogenic differentiation was assayed by calculating calcium deposition, alkaline phosphatase activity, and the expression of osteogenic markers (RUNIX 2, COL-1, ALP) and the Alizarin Red S staining method. And for adipogenic differentiation, expression of related gene markers (PPARγ, FABP4) and Oil Red O staining was used. The MTT result indicated that curcumin has no toxic effect (p < 0.05). Furthermore, curcumin showed a higher (p < 0.05) alkaline phosphatase activity and more (p < 0.05) calcium content and the expression of the corresponding gene increased (p < 0.05), while prevents adipogenic differentiation (p < 0.05). This information demonstrates that curcumin causes osteogenic differentiation and prevent stem cells from differentiating to adipose cells.