BACKGROUND:Cytoskeleton plays an important role in the transduction of mechanical signal, and intermittent tensile stress can promote osteogenic differentiation. However, there is no relevant study about the change of cytoskeleton in osteoporosis rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells under intermittent tensile stress. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of intermittent tensile stress on the cytoskeleton of osteoporosis rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells during osteogenic differentiation. METHODS:Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were obtained from osteoporosis rats and cultured in vitro. The 5%, 10%and 15%tensile stress were strained on the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells through FX-4000T Flexcell. No stress was in the control group. Osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells was observed through alkaline phosphatase staining, while the change of cytoskeleton was observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy with figures col ected for analysis by Image-ProPlus 6.0 software. The area of cells, ratio of length to width and integrated fluorescence intensity of cytoskeleton protein F-actin were measured. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Under tensile stress, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells from osteoporosis rats arranged in the direction vertical to mechanical stimulation. cells under different tensile stress differentiated towards osteoblasts. The result of alkaline phosphatase staining showed the most significant difference in 10%group, and quite an amount of cells lining lost succession in the 15%group. Under stress, the F-actin filaments were rearranged in paral el accordingly, which showed a reconstruction of cytoskeleton. Imaging analysis indicated that the area of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells was decreased in 10%and 15%groups (P<0.05) with the increased ratio of length to width (P<0.05), and expression of F-actin increased in5%, 10%, 15%groups (P<0.05) after tensile stress. Under mechanical stimulation, the cytoskeleton of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells from osteoporosis rats is shown to have corresponding alterations during osteogenic differentiation.