Abstract:
The effect of dietary vitamin K2 (menaquinone-7) on bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) rats was investigated. OVX rats were freely given experimental diets containing menaquinone-4 (MK-4; 12 mg/100 g diet) or menaquinone-7 (MK-7; 18.1 mg/100 g diet) for 24 days; MK-4 and MK-7 were equal in molar concentrations. This feeding caused a remarkable increase of MK-4 and MK-7 concentrations in the serum and femur of OVX rats. OVX-induced decrease in the femoral dry weight and femoral calcium content was prevented by the feeding of dietary MK-4 or NK-7. In separate experiments, OVX rats were freely given experimental diets containing the fermented soybean (natto; including 9.4 μg MK-7/100 g diet) without or with added MK-7 (37.6 μg/100 g diet) for 77 days. Feeding produced a significant elevation of MK-4 and MK-7 concentrations in the serum of OVX rats. In this case, a significant increase in the femoral MK-4 content was observed but MK-7 was not detected in the femoral tissues. OVX-induced decreases in the femoral dry weight and femoral calcium content were significantly prevented by the feeding of diets containing natto with MK-7 added (37.6 μg/100 g diets). This study demonstrates that the intake of dietary MK-7 has a preventive effect on bone loss caused by OVX. This effect may be partly caused by MK-4, which is formed by degradation of MK-7.
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Received: July 23, 1998 / Accepted: Sept. 28, 1998
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Yamaguchi, M., Taguchi, H., Gao, Y. et al. Effect of vitamin K2 (menaquinone-7) in fermented soybean (natto) on bone loss in ovariectomized rats. J Bone Miner Metab 17, 23–29 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007740050059
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007740050059