Taurine promotes human mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into osteoblast through the ERK pathway. 
Taurine has been reported to influence bone metabolism, but the role of taurine on osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) remains unclear.  In the present study, we investigated the effect of taurine on osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs.  The results showed that taurine increased the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and mineralized nodules in hMSCs induced by osteogenic induced medium.  Meanwhile, RT-PCR analysis showed that taurine up-regulated the mRNA expression of ALP, osteopontin, Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and Osterix in a dose-dependent manner.  Furthermore, taurine induced activation of extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) and pretreatment with the ERK inhibitor U0126 abolished the taurine-induced osteogenesis of hMSCs.  Taken together, our study reveals that taurine promotes the osteogenesis of hMSCs by activating the ERK pathway.