Abstract:[Objective] To explore the effect of TNF-α on the senescence of human nucleus pulposus mesenchymal stem cells. [Methods] The normal human nucleus pulposus mesenchymal stem cells (hNPMSCs) were isolated from human undegenerated lumbar disc and cultured to the third generation, and then divided into the normal blank control group and TNF-α group, which were treated with serumfree medium, and serum-free medium contenting TNF-α of 100 ng/ml for another 48 h respectively. The cell morphology was observed un- der the microscope and then stained by senescence β-galactosidase kit. CCK-8 assay was used to assess the cell viability at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 days after treatment, while western blot assay was performed to detect the expression of aging-related protein p53 and p16. [Results] The microscopic observation and β-galactosidase staining showed that the hNPMSCs treated with TNF-α were considerably more senescent than those in the blank control group. As results of CCK-8 assay, the optical density (OD) presenting cell proliferation viability ramped up significantly in both groups over time (P<0.05) . Although there were not statistically significant differences between the two groups from 1 day to 7 days (P>0.05) , the TNF-α group had significantly lower OD than the control group from 9 days to 15 days (P<0.05) . Regarding to western blot detection, the TNF-α group presented significantly higher expression of aging-related proteins p53 and p16 than the control group (P<0.05) . [Conclusions] In this study, the TNF-α does inhibit cell proliferation of hNPMSCs, whereas accelerate senes- cence of the cells.