Mechanism of active components of "Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma-Drynariae Rhizoma" in treatment of osteoporosis based on network pharmacology and in vitro cell experiment / 中国中药杂志

The present study aimed to explore the main active components and potential mechanisms of Panax notoginseng saponins(PNS) and osteopractic total flavone(OTF) in the treatment of osteoporosis(OP) through network pharmacology, molecular docking and in vitro cell experiments, which was expected to provide a theoretical basis for clinical applications. The blood-entering components of PNS and OTF were obtained from literature search and online database, and their potential targets were obtained from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP) and SwissTargetPrediction. The OP targets were obtained by means of searching Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man(OMIM) and GeneCards. The common targets of the drug and disease were screened by Venn. Cytoscape was used to construct a "drug-component-target-disease" network, and the core components were screened according to the node degree. The protein-protein interaction(PPI) network of the common targets was constructed by STRING and Cytoscape, and the core targets were screened according to the node degree. GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of potential therapeutic targets were carried out by R language. Molecular docking was used to determine the binding activity of some active components to key targets by AutoDock Vina. Finally, HIF-1 signaling pathway was selected for in vitro experimental verification according to the results of KEGG pathway analysis. Network pharmacology showed that there were 45 active components such as leachianone A, kurarinone, 20(R)-protopanaxatriol, 20(S)-protopanaxatriol, and kaempferol, and 103 therapeutic targets such as IL6, AKT1, TNF, VEGFA and MAPK3 involved. PI3K-AKT, HIF-1, TNF and other signaling pathways were enriched. Molecular docking revealed that the core components had good binding ability to the core targets. In vitro experiments found that PNS-OTF could up-regulate the mRNA expression levels of HIF-1α, VEGFA and Runx2, indicating that the mechanism of PNS-OTF in treating OP may be related to the activation of HIF-1 signaling pathway, and thus PNS-OTF played a role in promoting angiogenesis and osteogenic differentiation. In conclusion, this study predicted the core targets and pathways of PNS-OTF in treating OP based on network pharmacology and carried out in vitro experimental verification, which reflected the characteristics of multi-component, multi-target and multi-pathway synergy of PNS-OTF, and provided new ideas for the future clinical treatment of OP.

Promoting effect of osteopractic total flavone combined with nano-bone materials on proliferationand differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Preliminary study has found that osteopractic total flavone can promote osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells on the surface of nano-bone material, but the underlying mechanism needs to be studied in depth. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the actin mechanism of osteopractic total flavone combined with nano-bone material on MC3T3-E1 cells. METHODS: MC3T3-E1 cells were co-cultured with nano-bone material, and 100 mg/L and 250 mg/L osteopractic total flavone were treated as drug intervention, including 10 μg/L transforming growth factor-β as positive control. The samples were divided into eight groups: (1) Normal group; (2) DKK1 group: Wnt pathway inhibitor DKK1 (0.1 mg/L) blocks Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway; (3) DKK1+transforming growth factor-β group; (4) DKK1+100 mg/L osteopractic total flavone group; (5) DKK1+250 mg/L osteopractic total flavone group; (6) DKK1+ nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen+transforming growth factor-β group; (7) DKK1+nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen+100 mg/L osteopractic total flavone group; (8) DKK1+nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen+250 mg/L osteopractic total flavone group. Cells in each group were harvested after 24 and 48 hours of intervention. Immunofluorescence labeling was used to observe the binding of Wnt and LRP in osteoblasts in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. The expression of β-catenin, LRP 5, GSK-3β, Cyclin D1, and RUNX2 was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot assay. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Confocal laser scanning microscope showed that obvious brown and yellow staining was shown in the DKK1+transforming growth factor-β group, DKK1+250 mg/L osteopractic total flavone group, DKK1+nano-hydroxyapatite/ collagen+transforming growth factor-β group, and DKK1+nano-hydroxyapatite/collagen+250 mg/L osteopractic total flavone group, indicating that Wnt and LRP combined better than other groups. (2) Real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot assay results showed that osteopractic total flavone could promote the expression of β-catenin, LRP5 and RUNX2, and downregulated GSK3β expression. These findings confirm that osteopractic total flavone can promote the differentiation and proliferation of osteoblasts by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Gene activation induced by osteopractic total flavone was dose-dependent.