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A cell-based model of bone remodeling for identifying activity of icarrin in the treatment of osteoporosis

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Abstract

The activity of icarrin (a flavonoid from Herba epimedii) was investigated in the regulation of bone remodeling, a process coupled by osteoblast-mediated bone forming and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. By directly co-culturing mouse bone marrow stromal cells and mouse preosteoclastic RAW264.7, and transwell co-culturing rat ovarian follicular granulosa cells (FGC), a 30 % increase in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and 25 % increase in estradiol level occurred. Compared with the antiresorptive drug, alendronate, and an anabolic drug, PTH1–34, icarrin possessed all of the positive effects on the co-culture by increasing ALP activity, estradiol production and decreasing tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase activity. A similar action of icarrin occurred on co-culture of mesenchymal stem cells, mouse peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and FGC. Overall, by using a co-cultured cell-based in vitro screening assay, icarrin is suggested as a new class of dual-action therapeutic agent for osteoporosis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the projects of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81102739).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College (Institute) of Integrative Medicine, Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116044, China

    Yan-Qiu Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Yan-Qiu Liu, Meng-Chun Cheng & Hong-Bin Xiao

  3. Glucose and Lipid Metabolism Laboratory of Liaoning Province, College of Life Science and Technology, Dalian University, Dalian, 116622, China

    Xiao-Fei Han

  4. Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, China

    Tiegang Liu

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  1. Yan-Qiu Liu
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  2. Xiao-Fei Han
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  5. Hong-Bin Xiao
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Correspondence to Hong-Bin Xiao.

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Liu, YQ., Han, XF., Liu, T. et al. A cell-based model of bone remodeling for identifying activity of icarrin in the treatment of osteoporosis. Biotechnol Lett 37, 219–226 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1661-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1661-8

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