Abstract: Objective To investigate the interaction of metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) and type II collagen (Col-2) in C3H10T1/2 cells, and explore the effect of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) on the expression of MMP13 and Col-2 in mRNA level during osteogenic differentiation induced by rhBMP-2. Methods rhBMP was utilized to induce osteoblastic differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells. Total RNA was isolated at various time points to detect the expression of MMP13 and Col-2 by the method of quantitative Real-time PCR. Results There was a negative correlation between MMP-13 and Col-2 expression in C3H1 OTI/2 cells without rhBMP-2 treatment in the first 10 days. In the rhBMP-2 treated cells, however, expression of MMIP-13 was inhibited and there was a negative correlation between MMP13 and Col-2 expression in the first 14 days. Conclusions There is a obvious correlation between the expression of MMP13 and Col-2. rhBMP-2 inhibits the expression of MMP13 while it induces osteogenic differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells.

Key words: MMP-13, Collagen-2, rhBMP-2, Real-time PCR