Gujin Dan is a Chinese medicine formulation that stimulates cell proliferation and differentiation by controlling multiple genes involved in MC3T3-E1 cells

Abstract

Background: With the development of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in recent years, the use of TCM in the treatment of osteoporosis has received much attention and research. Gujin Dan (GJD) is one of the representative Chinese medicine formulations that work synergistically with 19 herbs and has been used for decades to treat cervical spondylosis, lumbar disc herniation, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. However, the exact molecular mechanism by which GJD is used to strengthen bones in the treatment of osteoporosis remains largely unknown. Methods: In this study, an aqueous extract of GJD was prepared and its components were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The effect of GJD aqueous extract on MC3T3-E1 cells was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and alizarin red S staining (ARS), combined with RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and qRT-PCR. Results: Our study showed that GJD significantly promoted the proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells, as well as the synthesis and mineralisation of the extracellular matrix. GJD significantly increased the expression levels of genes that promote cell proliferation such as Adamts1, Mcam, Cyr61, Fos, Cebpd, Fosl2, Sirt1, Nipbl, Sema3c and Kcnq1ot1, up-regulated genes that inhibit apoptosis such as Gadd45a, Birc3, up-regulated genes that inhibit osteoclastogenesis such as Bcl6, Nfkbiz, Clcf1, Bcl3, Lgals3, Wisp1, Dusp1 and Fblim1, up-regulated genes that promote MC3T3-E1 cell differentiation such as Junb, Egr1, Klf10, Atf6, Malat1, Btg2, Sertad4, Zfyve16, Tet2, Creb5, Snai2, Fam46a, Calcrl and Pdzrn3. In addition, GJD mildly upregulated the expression levels of gene markers such as Atf4, Fn1, Usp7, Sox4, Col16a1, Spp1, Bmp1, Runx2, Bglap, Col12a1, and Alpl in osteoblasts. Conclusions: Our results show that GJD promotes the differentiation and proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells, inhibits osteoclast formation, and prevents osteoblast apoptosis. The present study significantly improves the current understanding of the molecular effects of GJD on MC3T3-E1 cells. This study also provides a new strategy for the further use of Chinese medicinal preparations against bone metabolism-related diseases.