Objective        To determine the effect of exogenous calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on the expression of tumor necrosis factor-β

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(TGF-β

1

) and cell proliferation in cultured rabbit osteoblasts.       Methods        Rabbit osteoblasts were primarily cultured from neonatal rabbits followed by identification with alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining

and then treated by CGRP at different concentrations. The prolife

ration of osteoblasts were detected by MTT assay

and the expression of TGF-β

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were detected by Western blotting.       Results        The rabbit osteoblasts were primarily cultured

and ALP staining indicated osteoblasts. With the elapse of treatment time

MTT assay showed that the cells were proliferated in an increasing trend under a certain concentration of CGRP. And at the same time point

MTT value also displayed an ascendant trend along with the increase of concentration. This trend became more and more obvious in 48 and 72 h (P0.05). With the increase of CGRP concentration

TGF-β

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protein expression was increased (P0.05).       Conclusion        CGRP might promote the proliferation of cultured rabbit osteoblasts by regulating the expression of TGF-β

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.