Impaired osteoblast proliferation plays fundamental roles in microgravityâinduced bone loss, and cell cycle imbalance may result in abnormal osteoblast proliferation. However, whether microgravity exerts an influence on the cell cycle in osteoblasts or what mechanisms may underlie such an effect remains to be fully elucidated. Herein, we confirmed that simulated microgravity inhibits osteoblast proliferation. Then, we investigated the effect of mechanical unloading on the osteoblast cell cycle and found that simulated microgravity arrested the osteoblast cell cycle in the G
2
phase. In addition, our data showed that cell cycle arrest in osteoblasts from simulated microgravity was mainly because of decreased cyclin B1 expression. Furthermore, miRâ181câ5p directly inhibited cyclin B1 protein translation by binding to a target site in the 3â˛UTR. Lastly, we demonstrated that inhibition of miRâ181câ5p partially counteracted cell cycle arrest and decreased the osteoblast proliferation induced by simulated microgravity. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that simulated microgravity inhibits cell proliferation and induces cell cycle arrest in the G
2
phase in primary mouse osteoblasts partially through the miRâ181câ5p/cyclin B1 pathway. This work may provide a novel mechanism of microgravityâinduced detrimental effects on osteoblasts and offer a new avenue to further investigate bone loss induced by mechanical unloading.