Abstract
Bone homeostasis is dynamically balanced by osteoclastic bone resorption and osteoblastic bone formation. Increased numbers and enhanced activities of osteoclasts can lead to diseases, such as osteoporosis, aseptic prosthetic loosening, rheumatoid arthritis, and tumor bone metastasis. In postmenopausal women, enhanced osteoclast formation causes excessive bone matrix resorption, less bone mass, and fragile bone mechanical property. Given the importance of osteoclast in osteolytic diseases, inhibiting osteoclast is considered as an effective method for the prevention or treatment of these diseases. In this study, we initially assessed the effects of artemether on osteoclast formation, osteoblast differentiation, and bone mineralization in vitro, further proved by ovariectomy-induced bone loss model in vivo. Here, we found that artemether effectively inhibited osteoclastogenesis in vitro and suppressed ovariectomy-induced bone loss, yet had no effect on osteoblast differentiation and osteoblast-related gene expression.
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Data Availability
The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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Funding
This work was supported by the Public Welfare Foundation Project of Zhejiang Province for Dr. Xiao Teng, China (LGF18H070004); the Public Welfare Foundation Project of Zhejiang Province for Dr. Ming-Xuan Feng, China (LGF19H070003); Public Welfare Foundation Project of Zhejiang Province for Dr. Zhao-bo Zhang, China (LGF20H070005); and Science and Technology Foundation of Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province (1901ky39).
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XT and DH designed most of the experiments. M-X F, XC and Z-B Z preformed animals’ surgery. M-X F, XC and J-S Z carried out the cell experiments. M-X F, XT and DH analyzed the data. M-XF wrote the paper. All authors approved the final manuscript for publication.
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The animal experiments in this study were conducted in accordance with guidelines and procedures authorized by the Animal Experimental Ethical Committee of Taizhou Central Hospital, Taizhou University (SYXK 2019–0030).
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Feng, MX., Zhang, ZB., Cheng, X. et al. Artemether Inhibits RANKL-Induced Osteoclast Differentiation and Prevents Bone Loss in Ovariectomized Mice. Rev. Bras. Farmacogn. 33, 812–821 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43450-023-00377-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43450-023-00377-8