Puerarin Enhances Bone Mass by Promoting Osteoblastogenesis and Slightly Lowering Bone Marrow Adiposity in Ovariectomized Rats

Abstract

We investigated the effect of puerarin on bone mass and marrow adiposity in ovariectomy (OVX)-induced osteoporosis. The rats were divided into four groups: control; OVX; OVX estradiol (OVX-E); and OVX puerarin treatment (OVX-GE). In vivo, bone mineral density (BMD) and histomorphometry were measured under microCT. The mechanical properties of tibia were obtained in 3-point bending test. Plasma osteocalcin and adiponectin were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were measured using biochemical methods. In vitro, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and Oil Red O staining were used to compare osteoblast proliferation and adipocyte differentiation, respectively. Osteocalcin and adiponectin in culture supernatants were determined using ELISA. The results showed that puerarin significantly enhanced bone volume density and trabecular number compared with OVX and OVX-E groups (p<0.05, p<0.05, respectively). Puerarin increased energy to ultimate load, plasma osteocalcin and ALP (p<0.01). However, BMD in OVX-GE group was less than that in control (p<0.01) and OVX-E groups (p<0.05). The culture supernatants from OVX-GE group showed increased osteocalcin compared with those from OVX ( p<0.01) and OVX-E groups ( p<0.05). Puerarin lowered adiponectin in culture supernatant compared with supernatant from OVX group and inhibited the increase in adipocytes caused by OVX (p<0.01). However, the amount of lipids did not differ between OVX-GE and OVX groups. These findings suggest that puerarin likely enhances bone formation by stimulating the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts while slightly inhibiting the adipotic differentiation.Key words puerarin; bone mass; bone formation; adiposity; osteoporosis Puerariae radix, the root of Pueraria lobata (WILD.) OTRWI, a wild creeper leguminous plant, is one of the earliest and most important crude herbs used in Chinese medicine for various medicinal purposes. For the near decade, it has been reported using osteoporosis animal model that total isoflavones of puerariae isoflavone could protect osteoporosis induced by ovariectomized rats 1,2) and could inhibit the secondary osteoporosis induced by dexamethasone in rats.3) As a kind of phytoestrogen, puerarin is regarded as one of isoflavone extract which exerting preventive effect on bone loss in ovariectomized rats.4) However, all the related animal experiment used total isoflavones of Pueraria lobata (WILD.) OTRWI. Their results were the comprehensive effects of daidzein, genistein and puerarin. We couldn't judge the independent effect of puerarin on bone gain.Puerarin is an active component extracted from the Chinese traditional medicine Pueraria lobata (WILD.) OTRWI. Structurely, puerarin is similar to estrogen. It has three -OH, where they combine with estradiol receptors and then exhibit estrogenic action. Therefore, it's believed to exhibit beneficial effect on bone tissue by mimicking the biological responses of estrogens.5,6) Previously, we...

Puerarin inhibits TRPM3/miR‐204 to promote MC3T3‐E1 cells proliferation, differentiation and mineralization

“…It has been used for treatment of angina pectoris and hypertension in China for several decades (Wang et al, ; Wang, Wu, Chiba, Yamada, & Ishimi, ). In vivo experimental studies reported that puerarin could reduce bone reabsorption, increase bone mineral density, promote bone formation, and has fewer side effects compared to estrogen (Li et al, ; Li, Liu, & Jia, ). Our previous research has suggested that puerarin may promote the proliferation of mouse MC3T3‐E1 osteogenic cells by regulating the expression of Runx2‐targeting miRNAs in vitro (Zhang, Zhou, Zeng, Zhao, & Zhan, ).…”

Puerarin—an isoflavone with beneficial effects on bone health

“…Mice additionally treated with puerarin had a significantly lower number of osteoclasts as well as decreased osteolysis area. Lower bone mass loss, compared to the puerarin-free group (68.5 vs. 47.9 mg of calvaria weight), was observed as well [45].…”

“…The essence of the presented results of puerarin studies in animal models is presented in Table 2 (Ref. [21,22,26,34,35,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][52][53][54][55][56]).…”

Natural Products from Chinese Medicines with Potential Benefits to Bone Health

“…Owing to the presence of phytoestrogen contents in Puerariae lobatae Radix, the plant has been found to be able to prevent bone loss [289,290], enhanced bone mass, and promote osteoblast proliferation and differentiation [291,292,293] in ovariectomized animals. In a parietal bone defect model of rabbit, treatment with a graft containing puerarin and collagen matrix stimulated new bone formation [294].…”