Research Article - Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2017) Volume 7, Issue 61

A Water Extract of Benefiting-Bone Capsule Improves Osteoporosis via Transcriptional and Translational Regulation of Key Factors in Notch and Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Pathways in Ovariectomized Rats

Benefiting-Bone Capsule (BBC) is a Chinese herbals formula that shows promise in the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis (OP), but the mechanisms underlying its anti-osteoporotic effects are yet to be established. Here we detect the influence of the extract on several targets of the Notch and Wnt/β- catenin signaling pathways in bone tissue of ovariectomized rats as a model of OP with the aid of realtime PCR, western blot, and immunohistochemical staining. The water extract of BBC exerted a pronounced beneficial effect on OP rats and activated the Wnt/β-catenin pathway through regulating Wnt3a, Wnt10b protein, and glycogen synthesis kinase 3β (GSK-3β) mRNA. Furthermore, the BBC extract inhibited Jagged1, 2 protein and Notch 1,2 mRNA of the Notch signaling pathway. We detected simultaneous changes in the levels of a number of downstream transcripts, including increased runtrelated transcription factor 2 (Runx 2) and decreased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), which were closely correlated with the treatment effect. Based on the collective findings, we propose that the water extract of BBC regulates OP-associated factors through modulation of key transcripts and proteins in the Notch and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. Our results provide further mechanistic evidence supporting the clinical efficacy of BBC in the treatment of OP.

Author(s): Yingquan Xiong, Hengrui Liu, Jiefang Wang, Lu Xiang, Zhidi Wu, Haixia Wang, Ling Ou, Xiaoyun Li, Xiaoguang Liu, Haibin He, Bojia Peng, Shu Mo, Xunqian Peng, Ya Tian, Panpan Wang, Ji Fang, Li Yang, Xiaofeng Zhu, Ronghua Zhang

Abstract Full Text PDF