Abstract:
OBJECTIVE To elucidate the reversal effect of cyclic-icaritin(CICT) on prednisolone -induced osteoporosis, and to explore its mechanism of action with BMPs signaling pathway. METHODS Prednisolone-induced osteoporosis model of zebrafish was used. The stained area, cumulative optical density, calcium and phosphorus contents of the skull of zebrafish were observed by fluorescence inverted microscope (×100). qPCR was used to quantitatively detect the expression of Runx 2 and AKP genes. RESULTS Compared with the control group, the cumulative optical density and mineralized area of zebrafish skull significantly decreased (
P<0.01),the Ca and P levels significantly decreased (
P<0.01), the expression of Runx 2 and AKP genes decreased significantly (
P<0.01) after incubation with prednisolone (25 μmol/L).After the intervention with different doses of CICT (0.1, 1.0, 10.0 μmol/L),the cumulative optical density and bone mineralization area of zebrafish skull significantly increased (
P<0.01), and the levels of Ca and P significantly increased (
P<0.01). Molecular docking techniques showed that CICT could stably dock with target protein BMPs (BMP-2/BMP-4), and the docking scores were - 5.49325609 and - 5.99361658, respectively. The expressions of Runx-2 and AKP genes significantly increased (
P<0.01). CONCLUSION CICT can reverse glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, which plays an anti-osteoporosis role by binding CICT to BMPs protein target and regulating BMPs signaling pathway to promote osteogenic differentiation.