Treatment with Rhizoma Dioscoreae extract has protective effect on osteopenia in ovariectomized rats.

Abstract

The aims of this study were to evaluate the osteoprotective effect of aqueous extract from Rhizoma Dioscoreae (RDE) on rats with ovariectomy- (OVX-) induced osteopenia. Our results show that RDE could inhibit bone loss of OVX rats after a 12-week treatment. The microarray analysis showed that 68 genes were upregulated and that 100 genes were downregulated in femurs of the RDE group rats compared to those in the OVX group. The Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) showed that several downregulated genes had the potential to code for proteins that were involved in the Wnt/ β -catenin signaling pathway (Sost, Lrp6, Tcf7l2, and Alpl) and the RANKL/RANK signaling pathway (Map2k6 and Nfatc4). These results revealed that the mechanism for an antiosteopenic effect of RDE might lie in the synchronous inhibitory effects on both the bone formation and the bone resorption, which is associated with modulating the Wnt/ β -catenin signaling and the RANKL/RANK signaling.

• Authors: Zhiguo Zhang, Lihua Xiang, Dong Bai, Xiaowei Fu, Wenlai Wang, Yan Li, Hong Liu, Jinghua Pan, Ya'nan Li, Gary Guishan Xiao, Dahong Ju
• Journal: TheScientificWorldJournal (ScientificWorldJournal) Vol. 2014 Pg. 645975 ( 2014) ISSN: 1537-744X [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 24526913 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Drugs, Chinese Herbal

Topics

• Animals
• Bone Density (drug effects, physiology)
• Bone Diseases, Metabolic (pathology, prevention & control)
• Dioscorea
• Drugs, Chinese Herbal (isolation & purification, pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Female
• Ovariectomy (adverse effects)
• Random Allocation
• Rats
• Rats, Wistar
• Rhizome
• Treatment Outcome