To accomplish effective periodontal regeneration for periodontal defects, several regenerative methods using growth and differentiation factors, including bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), have been developed. Bone morphogenetic protein-9 exhibits the most potent osteogenic activity of this growth factor family. However, it is unclear whether exogenous BMP-9 can induce osteogenic differentiation in human periodontal ligament (PDL) fibroblasts. Here, we examined the effects of recombinant human (rh) BMP-9 on osteoblastic differentiation in human PDL fibroblasts in vitro, compared with rhBMP-2. Recombinant human BMP-9 potently induced alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, mineralization, and increased expression of runt-related transcription factor-2/core binding factor alpha 1 (RUNX2/CBFA1), osterix, inhibitor of DNA binding/differentiation-1 (ID1), osteopontin, and bone sialoprotein genes, compared with rhBMP-2. The levels of rhBMP-9-induced osterix and ALP mRNA were significantly reduced in activin receptor-like kinase-1 and -2 small interfering RNA (siRNA)-transfected human PDL fibroblasts. Recombinant human BMP-9-induced ALP activity was not inhibited by noggin, in contrast to rhBMP-2 induced ALP activity, which was. Phosphorylation of SMAD1/5/8 in human PDL fibroblasts was induced by addition of rhBMP-9. Recombinant human BMP-9-induced ALP activity was suppressed by SB203580, SP600125, and U0126, which are inhibitors of p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), respectively. Our data suggest that rhBMP-9 is a potent inducer of the differentiation of human PDL fibroblasts into osteoblast-like cells and that this may be mediated by the SMAD and mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38, ERK1/2, and JNK) pathways.