Elevated circulating saturated fatty acids concentration is commonly associated with poorly controlled diabetes.The highly prevalent free fatty acid (FFA),palmitate,could induce apoptosis in various cell types,but little is known about its effects on human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).Here,we report that prolonged exposure to palmitate induces human bone marrow derived MSCs (hBM-MSCs) and umbilical cord-derived MSC (hUC-MSCs) apoptosis.