ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease with the high incidence, serious complications, financial burden, and heavily decrease in living quality. METHODS: Proliferation of osteoblast was tested by 2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT) method, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of osteoblasts was tested by ALP REAGENT, Calcium level was determined by a colorimetric assay, mRNA expression of phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K), 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK1), Akt, Caspase-3, Caspase-7, Caspase-9, osteocalcin (OCN), Osterix and Runx2 of osteoblasts was tested by RNA preparation and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and protein expression of phospho-PI3K, phospho-PDK1 and phospho-Akt was measured by Western Blot analysis. RESULTS: In osteoporosis model rats, it found that mRNA expression of PI3K, PDK1 and Akt showed no changes while protein expression of phospho-PI3K, phospho-PDK1 and phospho-Akt in bone tissue was decreased dramatically. To further characterize the molecular mechanisms that regulate osteoporosis, we examined the contribution of the PI3K/Akt cell signaling pathway in cultured osteoblasts. It suggested that, the blockade of PI3K activation by LY294002, a specific inhibitor of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in osteoblasts, heavily inhibited cell proliferation, ALP activity, calcium accumulation, and mRNA expression of OCN, Osterix and Runx2. However, mRNA expression of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 was promoted accordingly. CONCLUSION: The in vivo and in vitro studies indicated that the PI3K/Akt cell signaling pathway is involved in the inhibition of osteoporosis through promoting osteoblast proliferation, differentiation and bone formation.