In VivoStudy on the Pharmacological Interactions between a Chinese Herbal Formula ELP and Antiresorptive Drugs to Counteract Osteoporosis

Abstract

Antiresorptive drugs, alendronate and raloxifene, are effective in lowering bone mineral density (BMD) loss in postmenopausal women. However, long-term treatment may be associated with serious side effects. Our research group has recently discovered that a Chinese herbal formula, ELP, could significantly reduce BMD loss in animal and human studies. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the potential synergistic bone-protective effects of different herb-drug combinations using ovariectomized rats. To assess the efficacy of different combinations, the total BMD was monitored biweekly in the 8-week course of daily oral treatment. Bone microarchitecture, bone strength, and deoxypyridinoline level were also determined after 8 weeks. From our results, coadministration of ELP and raloxifene increased the total tibial BMD by 5.26% (2.5 mg/kg/day of raloxifene; P = 0.014) and 5.94% (0.25 mg/kg/day of raloxifene; P = 0.026) when compared with the respective dosage groups with raloxifene alone. Similar synergistic effects were also observed in BMD increase at distal femur (0.25 mg/kg/day; P = 0.001) and reduction in urinary deoxypyridinoline crosslink excretion (2.5 and 0.25 mg/kg/day; both P = 0.02). However, such interactions could not be observed in all alendronate-treated groups. Our data provide first evidence that ELP could synergistically enhance the therapeutic effects of raloxifene, so that the clinical dosage of raloxifene could be reduced.

Suppression of mast cell activity contributes to the osteoprotective effect of an herbal formula containing Herba Epimedii, Fructus Ligustri Lucidi and Fructus Psoraleae

“…The yield for this preparation was 12.5% as 68.8 g of lyophilized powder was obtained. The chemical profile was examined using the representative markers such as icariin (2.7 μg/mg for HEP), salidroside (3 μg/mg for FLL), psoralen (0.3 μg/mg) and isopsoralen (0.9 μg/mg for FP) as previously described …”

“…The chemical profile was examined using the representative markers such as icariin (2.7 μg/mg for HEP), salidroside (3 μg/mg for FLL), psoralen (0.3 μg/mg) and isopsoralen (0.9 μg/mg for FP) as previously described. [21] In-vivo hind limb unloading model…”

Multitargeted combination effects of a triherbal formulation containing ELP against osteoporosis: in vitro evidence

“…The collected extracts were filtered and lyophilized to give the powder form. The chemical profile of the herbal extracts were examined using liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry (LC‐MS) (6530 accurate‐mass Q‐TOF LC/MS; Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) against the representative markers such as icariin (for E), salidroside (for L), and psoralen and isopsoralen (for P) and the chemical fingerprints of all herbal extracts were then obtained …”

The Effects of Polyphenol, Tannic Acid, or Tannic Acid in Combination with Pamidronate on Human Osteoblast Cell Line Metabolism

“…In 2012, Ko et al [19] investigated the combination effects of a Chinese herbal medicine called Herba epimedii, Ligustri lucidi fructus, and Psoraleae fructus (ELP) with anti-resorptive medications (alendronate and raloxifene) in rats to prevent osteoporosis. The herbal formula has been shown to promote osteogenic differentiation in rat mesenchymal stem cells by elevating alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and matrix calcium deposition.…”