7,8-dihydroxyflavone Modulates Bone Formation and Resorption and Ameliorates Ovariectomy-Induced Osteoporosis
Abstract
Imbalances in bone formation and resorption cause osteoporosis. Mounting evidence supports that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) implicates in this process. 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF), a plant-derived small molecular TrkB agonist, mimics the functions of BDNF. We show that both BDNF and 7,8-DHF promoted the proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells. These effects might be attributed to the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway as the expression of cyclin D1, phosphorylated-glycogen synthase kinase-3β (p-GSK3β), β-catenin, Runx2, Osterix and osteoprotegerin (OPG) were all significantly up-regulated. Knockdown of β-catenin restrained the up-regulation of Runx2 and Osterix stimulated by 7,8-DHF. In particular, blocking TrkB by its specific inhibitor K252a suppressed 7,8-DHF-induced osteoblastic proliferation, differentiation and expression of osteoblastogenic genes. Moreover, BDNF and 7,8-DHF repressed osteoclastic differentiation of RAW264.7 cells. The transcription factor c-fos and osteoclastic genes such as tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), matrix metalloprotein-9 (MMP-9), Adamts5 were inhibited by 7,8-DHF. More importantly, 7,8-DHF attenuated bone loss, improved trabecular microarchitecture, tibial biomechanical properties and bone biochemical indexes in an ovariectomy (OVX) rat model. The current work highlights the dual regulatory effects that 7,8-DHF exerts on bone remodeling.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
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Author details
Funding
Key Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2019B020212001)
- Ying Zhang
The funders had role in data collection and interpretation.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All of the animals were handled according to approved Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocols (Aproval No.: IACUC-20190318-03) of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University. All surgery was performed under sodium pentobarbital anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.
Copyright
© 2021, Xue et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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