Table 1.

Functions and mechanism of glucose, fatty acids and amino acids metabolism during BMSC differentiation.

Metabolites/Metaboilc pathway	Functions	Mechanism	References
Glucose and metabolic pathway
Glucose uptake	Promotes osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs	Blocks ubiquitination of Runx2	[26,27]
Glycolysis	Promotes osteogenic differentiation of primary BMSCs and ST2 cells	Activates the RhoA/ROCK pathway	[[29], [30], [31]]
OXPHOS	Activates osteogenic differentiation of C3H10T1/2 cells	Promotes intracellular β-catenin signaling or downregulates HIF1α level	[34,35]
	No change during osteogenesis of hMSCs and ST2 cells Contributes to adipogenesis of hMSCs	No Increases supramolecular organization of cytochrome c oxidation	[36,37] [38]
Fatty acids and metabolic pathway
Palmitate	Inhibits osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs	Inhibits the expression of Bmp2 and glucose metabolism	[41,42]
Oleate	Promotes osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs	Prevents attenuation of the insulin signaling pathway	[[42], [43], [44]]
Arachidonic acid	Promotes adipogenic and inhibits osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs	No	[44]
Fatty acids oxidation	Promotes osteogenic differentiation of skeletal progenitor cells	As the energy source	[45]
Amino Acids and metabolic pathway
Glutamine	Promotes BMSCs differentiated toward osteoblasts	Provides ATP through the TCA cycle to meet energetic and synthetic demands	[49,50]
Glutaminase	Promotes BMSCs differentiated toward osteoblasts	Increases α-ketoglutarate production	[49]
Ketoglutaric acid	Promotes osteogenic potential of BMSCs	Decreases histone methylations accumulations	[52]
Kynurenine	Inhibits osteogenic differentiation in BMSCs and hMSCs	Upregulates miR-493-5b while downregulates miR-210-3b to elevate oxidative stress	[[53], [54], [55]]