Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Shengu'an exerts anti-osteoporotic effect in rats via TGFβ1-Smad2/3 signal pathway, and enhancement of bone and cartilage metabolism

Wei Li¹, Zhiqiang Peng¹, Yulun Wu¹, Jintao Hu¹, Peilun Li¹, Xinmiao Yao²

¹The Third Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, PR China; ²Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, PR China.

For correspondence:- Xinmiao Yao Email: mdagq0@163.com

Accepted: 26 May 2020 Published: 30 June 2020

Citation: Li W, Peng Z, Wu Y, Hu J, Li P, Yao X. Shengu'an exerts anti-osteoporotic effect in rats via TGFβ1-Smad2/3 signal pathway, and enhancement of bone and cartilage metabolism. Trop J Pharm Res 2020; 19(6):1191-1196 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v19i6.11

© 2020 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To study the anti-osteoporotic effect of Shengu'an in rats, and elucidate the mechanism of action involved.

Methods: Forty healthy female SPF mice were randomly divided into control group, saline-treated group, TGFβR? receptor inhibitor group, and shengu'an group. The expressions of type ? collagen (Co1-II) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion factor (CD-31) were determined. The expressions of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), p-smad2/3, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and osteoblast specific transcription factor (osterix) were assayed by western blotting.

Results: The expression of Co1-II in the vertebral body was significantly lower in model mice than in control mice, but was significantly higher in shengu'an mice when compared with model mice (p < 0.05). In shengu'an mice, CoI-I was markedly upregulated, relative to model mice, and the expressions of CD31 in TGFβR?receptor inhibitor group and shengu'an group were lower than in model group (p < 0.05). There were significantly lower expressions of TGF-β1 and p-smad2/3 in the vertebral body of shengu'an group than in model mice, but osterix was upregulated relative to model mice (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Shengu'an exerts anti-osteoporotic effect by downregulating TGFβ/smad signal pathway. There is thus a potential for its clinical application in the management of osteoporosis.

Keywords: Shengu'an, TGFβ1-Smad2/3 signal, Bone cartilage metabolism, Osteoporosis