Study on the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis with quercetin in Liuwei Dihuang Pill based on network pharmacology.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Liuwei Dihuang Pill (LP) was verified to alleviate postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) development. Nevertheless, the major constituent of LP and the related network pharmacology study remain unexplored.

METHODS:

Protein-protein interaction was established to identify the downstream target of LP in PMOP, and the related signaling pathway was investigated by bioinformatics analysis. MC3T3-E1 cells were added to ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) to mimic osteoporosis in vitro. The osteoblasts were identified by Alizarin red staining. Western blot was applied to evaluate protein levels. In addition, Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) assay was applied to assess cell viability, and cell apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry.

RESULTS:

Quercetin was the major constituent of LP. In addition, quercetin significantly reversed FAC-induced inhibition of osteogenic differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells. In addition, quercetin notably abolished the FAC-induced upregulation of Bax, Caspase-3, FOS, JUN, TGFB1 and PPARD. In contrast, Bcl-2, p-mTOR/mTOR, p-AKT/AKT and p-PI3K/PI3K levels in MC3T3-E1 cells were reduced by FAC, which was restored by quercetin. Meanwhile, FAC notably inhibited the viability of MC3T3-E1 cells via inducing apoptosis, but this impact was abolished by quercetin. Furthermore, quercetin could reverse pcDNA3.1-FOS-mediated growth of FAC-treated osteoblasts by mediating PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling.

CONCLUSION:

Quercetin alleviated the progression of PMOP via activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling. Hence, this study would shed novel insights into discovering new methods against PMOP.

• Authors: Fuping Zhu, Wuping Li, Linhua Wang, Bing Dai, Zongyi Liu, Hang Wu, Ting Deng
• Journal: Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research (J Orthop Surg Res) Vol. 18 Issue 1 Pg. 21 (Jan 09 2023) ISSN: 1749-799X [Electronic] England
• PMID: 36624462 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2023. The Author(s).

Chemical References

• Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
• Quercetin
• TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
• Liuwei Dihuang Decoction

Topics

• Female
• Cell Line
• Network Pharmacology
• Osteoblasts (metabolism)
• Osteogenesis
• Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal (drug therapy, metabolism)
• Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases (metabolism)
• Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt (metabolism)
• Quercetin (pharmacology)
• TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases (metabolism)
• Animals
• Mice