Background: Gabapentin (GP) is an anticonvulsant medicine prescribed to treat neurological complications. Studies showed that GP causes osteoporosis in patients following continuous consumption. We investigated the oxidative stress induced by GP on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) differentiated to osteoblasts in vitro. Methods and materials: Rat BMSCs were treated with different concentrations of BP and then concentrations of 10-8 and 10-4 M were selected for further analysis. Osteogenic differentiation, cell viability, nuclear and cytoplasm morphology, total protein concentration, malondialdehyde (MDA) level, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and antioxidant enzymes (CAT and SOD) activity was determined. In addition, the expression of oxidative stress-related genes (NFkB and Nrf2) was estimated using real-time PCR. Results: Alizarin red staining showed osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs was reduced significantly following treatment with selected dose of GP. In addition, GP reduced the cell viability and total protein concentration and decreased the nuclear diameter and cytoplasm area of the treated cells significantly (p<0.05) compared to the control one. It was shown that GP caused elevation of MDA and reduced the TCA as well as the activity of the antioxidant enzymes. It was revealed that the expression of NFkB increased and Nrf2 decreased after treatment with the selected dose of GP. Conclusion: GP reduces cell viability and changes the morphology of osteo-differentiation of BMSCs via induction of oxidative stress.
