High
glucose is one of the possible causes for
osteoporosis and fracture in
diabetes mellitus. Our previous study showed that
silibinin can increase osteogenic effect by stimulating osteogenic genes expression in human bone marrow stem cells (hBMSCs). However, no study has yet investigated the effect of
silibinin on osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs cultured with high
glucose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of high
glucose on osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs and to determine if
silibinin can alleviate those effects. In this study, the hBMSCs were cultured in an osteogenic medium with physiological (normal
glucose, NG, 5.5mM) or diabetic (high
glucose, HG, 30mM). The effects of
silibinin on HG-induced osteogenic differentiation were evaluated by alkaline phosphatas (ALP) activity assay, Von Kossa staining and real time-polymerase chain reaction. HG-induced oxidative damage was also assessed. Western blot were performed to examine the role of PI3K/Akt pathway. We demonstrated that HG suppressed osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs, manifested by a decrease in expression of osteogenic markers and an increase of oxidative damage markers including
reactive oxygen species and
lipid peroxide (MDA). Remarkably, all of the observed oxidative damage and osteogenic dysfunction induced by HG were inhibited by
silibinin. Furthermore, the PI3K/Akt pathway was activated by
silibinin. These results demonstrate that
silibinin may attenuate HG-mediated hBMSCs dysfunction through
antioxidant effect and modulation of PI3K/Akt pathway, suggesting that
silibinin may be a superior drug candidate for the treatment of diabetes related
bone diseases.