Objective To investigate the effect of notochordal cells (NCs) conditioned medium (NCCM) on theprol iferation and differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Methods NCs and BMSCs wereisolated from the thoracolumbar intervertebral disc and the femurs of 4-week-old Japanese white rabbits, respectively. NCswere cultured with DMEM/F12 medium containing 15% FBS for 5 days to prepare NCCM. The experiment consisted of2 groups: BMSCs were cultured with NCCM in experimental group and with DMEM/F12 medium containing 15% FBSin control group. The prol iferation of BMSCs was assessed by cell counting kit-8 at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 14 days after culture;the expression of proteoglycan and collagen type II were determined by immunofluorescence and real-time fluorescentquantitative PCR at 7 and 14 days after culture. Results NCs and BMSCs were successfully isloated. At 5, 7, 9, and 14days, the number of BMSCs in the experimental group was significantly more than those in the control group (P lt; 0.05).At 7 and 14 days, there was no expression or less expression of proteoglycan and collagen type II in the control group;however, there was a lot of expression of proteoglycan and collagen type II in the experimental group, and the expressionswere higher at 14 days than at 7 days. At 7 and 14 days after culture, the mRNA expressions of proteoglycan and collagentype II were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (P lt; 0.05), and at 14 days than at 7days in the experimental group (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion NCCM can promote the prol iferation and the differentiation ofBMSCs into chondroyte-like cells, which provides the basis for NCs and BMSCs as seed cells in the treatment of degenerativedisc disease.