The Antiosteoporosis Effects of Zhuanggu Guanjie Pill In Vitro and In Vivo

Network pharmacology analysis and experimental validation to explore the mechanism of kaempferol in the treatment of osteoporosis

Osteoporosis (OP) is a prevalent global disease characterized by bone mass loss and microstructural destruction, resulting in increased bone fragility and fracture susceptibility. Our study aims to investigate the potential of kaempferol in preventing and treating OP through a combination of network pharmacology and molecular experiments. Kaempferol and OP-related targets were retrieved from the public database. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of common targets was constructed using the STRING database and visualized with Cytoscape 3.9.1 software. Enrichment analyses for GO and KEGG of potential therapeutic targets were conducted using the Hiplot platform. Molecular docking was performed using Molecular operating environment (MOE) software, and cell experiments were conducted to validate the mechanism of kaempferol in treating OP. Network pharmacology analysis identified 54 overlapping targets between kaempferol and OP, with 10 core targets identified. The primarily enriched pathways included atherosclerosis-related signaling pathways, the AGE/RAGE signaling pathway, and the TNF signaling pathway. Molecular docking results indicated stable binding of kaempferol and two target proteins, AKT1 and MMP9. In vitro cell experiments demonstrated significant upregulation of AKT1 expression in MC3T3-E1 cells (p < 0.001) with kaempferol treatment, along with downregulation of MMP9 expression (p < 0.05) compared to the control group. This study predicted the core targets and pathways of kaempferol in OP treatment using network pharmacology, and validated these findings through in vitro experiments, suggesting a promising avenue for future clinical treatment of OP.

Influence of Zhuanggu Guanjie Pill on Seven Cytochrome P450 Enzymes Based on Probe Cocktail and Pharmacokinetics Approaches

BACKGROUND

The use of herbal medicines has tremendously increased over the past few decades. Case reports and controlled clinical investigations of herbal-drug interactions have been reported. Since Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes play an important role in drug interactions. The evaluation of the influence of herbal medicines on the activities of CYPs is beneficial to promote scientific and rational clinical use of herbal medicines.

OBJECTIVE

Herein, we aimed to develop and validate a method to simultaneously quantify seven CYP cocktail probe drugs consisting of phenacetin (PNC), bupropion (BPP), losartan potassium (LK), omeprazole (OMP), dextromethorphan (DM), chlorzoxazone (CZZ) and midazolam (MDZ) and their respective metabolites in a single acquisition run and use this method to evaluate the influence of Zhuanggu Guanjie Pill (ZGGJP) on seven CYPs.

METHODS

A cost-effective and simple UHPLC-(±)ESI-MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of seven probe drugs and metabolites in rat plasma was developed and validated. Male and female rats were randomly divided into three groups and treated with 1.2 g/kg/d ZGGJP, 5 g/kg/d ZGGJP and 0.5% CMC-Na for 14 consecutive days. After 24 h of the last administration, all rats were administrated orally with probe drugs. The influence of ZGGJP on the CYPs was carried out by comparing the metabolic ratio (Cmax, AUC0-t) of metabolites/probe drugs in rats.

RESULTS

The calibration curves were linear, with correlation coefficient > 0.99 for seven probe drugs and their corresponding metabolites. Intra- and inter-day precisions were not greater than 15% RSD and the accuracies were within ± 15% of nominal concentrations. The ZGGJP showed significant inductive effect on CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C9 and CYP3A in male and female rats.

CONCLUSION

ZGGJP had inductive effects on CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C9 and CYP3A in male and female rats.

Gelatin methacrylate hydrogel scaffold carrying resveratrol-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles for enhancement of osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs and effective bone regeneration

Critical-sized bone defects caused by traumatic fractures, tumour resection and congenital malformation are unlikely to heal spontaneously. Bone tissue engineering is a promising strategy aimed at developing in vitro replacements for bone transplantation and overcoming the limitations of natural bone grafts. In this study, we developed an innovative bone engineering scaffold based on gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel, obtained via a two-step procedure: first, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were loaded with resveratrol (Res), a drug that can promote osteogenic differentiation and bone formation; these particles were then encapsulated at different concentrations (0.01%, 0.02%, 0.04% and 0.08%) in GelMA to obtain the final Res-SLNs/GelMA scaffolds. The effects of these scaffolds on osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and bone regeneration in rat cranial defects were evaluated using various characterization assays. Our in vitro and in vivo investigations demonstrated that the different Res-SLNs/GelMA scaffolds improved the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs, with the ideally slow and steady release of Res; the optimal scaffold was 0.02 Res-SLNs/GelMA. Therefore, the 0.02 Res-SLNs/GelMA hydrogel is an appropriate release system for Res with good biocompatibility, osteoconduction and osteoinduction, thereby showing potential for application in bone tissue engineering.

Osteoporosis: Current and Emerging Therapies Targeted to Immunological Checkpoints

Osteoporosis is a skeletal pathology characterized by compromised bone strength leading to increased risk of fracture, mainly the spine and hip fractures. Osteoporosis affects more than 200 million people worldwide and because of the skeletal fractures it causes, represents a major cause of morbidity, disability and mortality in older people. Recently, the new discoveries of osteoimmunology have clarified many of the pathogenetic mechanisms of osteoporosis, helping to identify new immunological targets for its treatment opening the way for new and effective therapies with biological drugs. Currently, there are basically two monoclonal antibodies for osteoporosis therapy: denosumab and romosozumab. Here, we focus on the modern approach to the osteoporosis management and in particular, on current and developing biologic drugs targeted to new immunological checkpoints, in the landscape of osteoimmunology.

Effects of 12-Week Exercise Program on Enzyme Activity of Serum Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 and Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 in Female Patients with Postmenopausal Osteoporosis: A Randomized Control Study

Background

Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by decreased bone density and destruction of bone microarchitecture. Indicators for altered bone homeostasis are changes in the serum level of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effect of a 12-week exercise program on enzyme activity of serum MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in postmenopausal osteoporotic patients. Materials and methods. Participants were randomized in two groups: exercise (EG) (N = 37) and control (CG) (N = 37) and control (CG) (

Results

Significant differences between pretreatment and posttreatment enzyme activities of serum MMP-9 (p=0.009), TIMP-1 (p=0.009), TIMP-1 (p=0.009), TIMP-1 (

Conclusion

Our results suggest that a 12-week exercise program has an influence on enzyme activity of serum MMP-9, revealing a possible role of MMPs in initiating training-specific adaptation. Although measurements of circulating MMP-9 and TIMP-1 allowed us to detect effects of exercise, as of today, they have no real role in the diagnosis of osteoporosis and/or follow-up of osteoporotic patient's response to treatment. MMP-9 might be used as an important prognostic marker for the evaluation of patient's response to exercise. Larger-randomized controlled studies need to be performed to expand this area of knowledge. This trial is registered with trial registration number: NCT03816449).