Objective To investigate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF)on the differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells(BMSCs)into periodontal ligament fibroblasts(PDLFs)in the co-breeding condition of BMSCs and PDLFs.Methods BMSCs and PDLFs were cultured in vitro and identified.BMSCs/PDLFs indirect co-culture model was estab-lished in Millicell hanging cell co-culture room.The experiment was divided into 5 groups:negative control group(single BMSCs group);positive control group(PDLFs group alone);experimental group:0 ng/mL bFGF+BMSCs/PDLFs group,1 ng/mL bFGF+ BMSCs/PDLFs group and10 ng/mL bFGF+BMSCs/PDLFs group.ALP activity was measured on days3,5 and 7 of cell co-breed-ing.After cultured to 2 w,the co-breeding was stopped,and mRNA contents of osteocalcin(OCN),collagen typeⅢ(COLⅢ),osteopontin(OPN)and metalloproteinase 1(ADAMTS1)were monitored by RT-PCR.SPSS 17.0 software was used for statistical analysis of the data.Results The ALP activity test showed that there were statistically significant differences between the experimen-tal group and the negative control group at each time point after 3 d,5 d and 7 d co-culture(P<0.05);compared with positive con-trol group,the difference was not statistically significant(P>0.05);there was no statistical significance among all experimental groups(P>0.05).RT-PCR detection results showed that the mRNA expression of OCN and OPN between the negative control group and the other 4 groups had statistical significance(P<0.05),but there was no statistical significance between the latter 4 groups(P>0.05);the mRNA expressions of COLⅢand ADAMTS1 in the single BMSCs group were significantly different from those in the oth-er 4 groups(P<0.05),among which the mRNA expressions of COLⅢand ADAMTS1 in the 10 ng/mL bFGF+BMSCs/PDLFs group were higher than those in the other 4 groups.The difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion bFGF can induce BMSCs to differentiate into PDLFs,and the induction effect of bFGF in high concentration group(10 ng/mL)is better than that in low concentration group(1 ng/mL).