Ursolic Acid Prevents Retinoic Acid-Induced Bone Loss in Rats

Ursolic acid alleviates steroid-induced avascular necrosis of the femoral head in mouse by inhibiting apoptosis and rescuing osteogenic differentiation

Steroid-induced avascular necrosis of femoral head (SANFH) is a common disorder worldwide with high disability. Overdose of glucocorticoid (GC) is the most common non-traumatic cause of SANFH. Up until now, there are limited therapeutic strategies for curing SANFH, and the mechanisms underlying SANFH progression remain unclear. Nevertheless, Osteogenic dysfunction is considered to be one of the crucial pathobiological mechanisms in the development of SANFH, which involves mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) apoptosis and osteogenic differentiation disorder. Ursolic acid (UA), an important component of the Chinese medicine formula Yougui Yin, has a wide range of pharmacological properties such as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and bone remodeling. Due to the positive effect of Yougui Yin on bone remodeling, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of UA on dexamethasone (DEX)-induced SANFH in vitro and vivo. In vitro, we demonstrated that UA can promote mouse BMSCs proliferation and resist DEX-induced apoptosis by CCK8, Western blotting, TUNEL and so on. In addition, vitro experiments such as ALP and Alizarin red staining assay showed that UA had a beneficial effect on the osteogenic differentiation of mouse BMSCs. In vivo, the results of H&E staining, immunohistochemistry staining, Elisa and micro-CT analysis showed that UA had a bone repair-promoting effect in SANFH model. Moreover, the results of Western blot and TUNEL experiments showed that UA could delay the disease progression of SANFH in mice by inhibiting apoptosis. Overall, our study suggests that UA is a potential compound for the treatment of SANFH.

Research on the Mechanism of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction for Osteoporosis Based on Systematic Biological Strategies

Background

Osteoporosis is an important health problem worldwide. Liuwei Dihuang Decoction (LDD) and its main ingredients may have a good clinical effect on osteoporosis. Meanwhile, its mechanism for treating osteoporosis needs to be further revealed in order to provide a basis for future drug development.

Methods

A systematic biological methodology was utilized to construct and analyze the LDD-osteoporosis network. After that, the human transcription data of LDD intervention in patients with osteoporosis and protein arrays data of LDD intervention in osteoporosis rats were collected. The human transcription data analysis, protein arrays data analysis, and molecular docking were performed to validate the findings of the prediction network (LDD-osteoporosis PPI network). Finally, animal experiments were conducted to verify the prediction results of systematic pharmacology.

Results

(1) LDD-osteoporosis PPI network shows the potential compounds, potential targets (such as ALB, IGF1, SRC, and ESR1), clusters, biological processes (such as positive regulation of calmodulin 1-monooxygenase activity, estrogen metabolism, and endothelial cell proliferation), and signaling and Reactome pathways (such as JAK-STAT signaling pathway, osteoclast differentiation, and degradation of the extracellular matrix) of LDD intervention in osteoporosis. (2) Human transcriptomics data and protein arrays data validated the findings of the LDD-osteoporosis PPI network. (3) The animal experiments showed that LDD can improve bone mineral density (BMD), increase serum estradiol (E2) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels, and upregulate Wnt3a and β-catenin mRNA expression (P < 0.05). (4) Molecular docking results showed that alisol A, dioscin, loganin, oleanolic acid, pachymic acid, and ursolic acid may stably bind to JAK2, ESR1, and CTNNB1.

Conclusion

LDD may have a therapeutic effect on osteoporosis through regulating the targets (such as ALB, IGF1, SRC, and ESR1), biological processes (such as positive regulation of calmodulin 1-monooxygenase activity, estrogen metabolism, and endothelial cell proliferation), and pathways (such as JAK-STAT signaling pathway, osteoclast differentiation, and degradation of the extracellular matrix) found in this research.

Ursolic Acid Suppresses Oncostatin M Expression through Blockade of PI3K/Akt/NF-κB Signaling Processes in Neutrophil-like Differentiated HL-60 Cells

Cytokine oncostatin M (OSM) plays an important role in a variety of inflammatory reactions and is mainly produced in neutrophils in inflammatory diseases. While natural pentacyclic triterpenoid ursolic acid (UA) possesses a wide range of beneficial effects, such as anti-oxidant, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory, the regulatory processes of OSM suppression by UA in neutrophils are still poorly understood. This study was aimed at examining how UA regulates OSM expression in neutrophil-like differentiated (d)HL-60 cells. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and immunoblotting were employed to analyze the effects of UA. Whereas stimulation with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) led to elevations of OSM production and mRNA expression, these elevations were lowered by treatment with UA in neutrophil-like dHL-60 cells. When the cells were exposed to GM-CSF, phosphorylated levels of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, Akt, and nuclear factor-kB were upregulated. However, the upregulations were diminished by treatment with UA in neutrophil-like dHL-60 cells. The results of this study proposed that UA might relieve inflammatory diseases via inhibition of OSM.

Traditional Chinese Medicine and orthopedic biomaterials: Host of opportunities from herbal extracts

The role of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), especially herbs or herbal extracts, in treating diseases has received increasing attention. This review focuses on the use of herbal extracts as signaling molecules and functional materials in the field of orthopedics, biomaterial science and bone tissue engineering strategies. A literature review using both Chinese and English references on herbs and herbal extracts based on TCM theory used in orthopedics and biomaterial science was performed. We discuss the efficacy of herbs, the active extracts from these herbs, the combination of herbal extracts and biomaterials and, finally, the application of herbal extracts to the biomaterials specific to orthopedics. Only a few studies have confirmed the feasibility of applying herbal extracts to biomaterials to improve the role of biomaterials and/or optimize drug delivery and release in orthopedics. In this context, this review reveals a new and promising direction for herbal extracts, where the use of herbal extracts based on TCM systemic treatment, can change the limited modern medicine view of biomaterials as "only for local treatment" when considering its efficacy.

Predicting and Exploring the Mechanisms of Erzhi Pill in Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis Based on Network Pharmacology and Zebrafish Experiments

Background

Erzhi Pill (EZP), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription, has been widely applied to improve bone metabolism and treat osteoporosis (OP) in China. However, its effective constituents and mechanisms remain unclear.

Methods

By combining network pharmacology and zebrafish experiments, an integrative method was employed to address this problem. Firstly, the disease targets of OP were collected from two public gene databases. Secondly, the active compounds and drug targets of EZP were obtained from the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP). Thirdly, a drug-target-disease interaction network was constructed, and the key active components were identified by analyzing the topological characteristics of the network. Finally, these predicted results were tested by zebrafish experiments and compared with those from the literature. Specifically, quercetin as an important representative active component of EZP was applied to wild type and transgenic zebrafish larvae to assess its effects on skull mineralization and osteoplastic differentiation.

Results

Our study identified 72 active compounds, 220 targets and 166 signaling pathways probably involved in the prevention and treatment of OP by EZP, wherein quercetin, apigenin, daidzein, luteolin, ursolic acid and kaempferol could be the key compounds, while PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway and IL-17 signaling pathway could be the key signaling pathways. The experiments indicated that quercetin attenuated both the decrease of skull mineralization and the inhibition of skull osteoplastic differentiation in zebrafish larvae trigged by dexamethasone.

Conclusion

Our study not only investigated potentially effective constituents and mechanisms of EZP in the prevention and treatment of OP, but also provided a reference for the in-depth research, development and application of TCM.

Lactobacillus Plantarum HFY15 Helps Prevent Retinoic Acid-Induced Secondary Osteoporosis in Wistar Rats

A rat model of secondary osteoporosis was constructed using retinoic acid as an inducer, and the genes, proteins, and bone mass of the rats were analyzed. qPCR detection of the Wnt/β-catenin and OPG/RANK/RANKL signaling pathway-related gene expression levels showed that Lactobacillus plantarum HFY15 played a positive role in regulating both pathways. HFY15 significantly increased β-catenin, Lrp5, Lrp6, Wnt10b, OPG, RANKL, and Runx2 expression and downregulated DKK1, RANK, CTSK, TRACP, and ALP expression. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays further confirmed the qPCR results. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining showed that HFY15 slowed retinoic acid-induced osteoclast formation. Microcomputed tomography showed that HFY15 reduced trabecular separation and increased the percent bone volume, trabecular numbers, trabecular thickness, and bone mineral density in the rats in vivo. These findings indicate that HFY15 may help prevent retinoic acid-induced secondary osteoporosis in vivo.

Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) as therapeutic and prophylactic agent

Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) is a medicinal plant native to the Mediterranean region and cultivated around the world. Besides the therapeutic purpose, it is commonly used as a condiment and food preservative. R. officinalis L. is constituted by bioactive molecules, the phytocompounds, responsible for implement several pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiproliferative, antitumor and protective, inhibitory and attenuating activities. Thus, in vivo and in vitro studies were presented in this Review, approaching the therapeutic and prophylactic effects of R. officinalis L. on some physiological disorders caused by biochemical, chemical or biological agents. In this way, methodology, mechanisms, results, and conclusions were described. The main objective of this study was showing that plant products could be equivalent to the available medicines.