BMP4 is a member of the bone morphogenetic protein family which is part of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily. The superfamily includes large families of growth and differentiation factors. BMP4 is highly conserved evolutionarily. BMP4 is found in early embryonic development in the ventral marginal zone and in the eye, heart blood and otic vesicle. BMP4, in conjunction with FGF2, promote differentiation of stem cells to mesodermal lineages. After differentiation, BMP4 and FGF2 treated cells generally produces higher amounts of osteogenic and chondorgenic differentiation than untreated stem cells.
