Treatment with Rhizoma Dioscoreae Extract Has Protective Effect on Osteopenia in Ovariectomized Rats

• Published in: TheScientificWorld Vol. 2014; no. 2014; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Xiao, Gary G., Ju, Dahong, Pan, Jinghua, Liu, Hong, Li, Yan, Wang, Wenlai, Fu, Xiaowei, Bai, Dong, Xiang, Lihua, Zhang, Zhiguo, Li, Ya’nan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 01.01.2014; Hindawi Limited; Wiley
• Subjects: Animals; Bone density; Bone Density - drug effects; Bone Density - physiology; Bone Diseases, Metabolic - pathology; Bone Diseases, Metabolic - prevention & control; Care and treatment; Chromatography; Dioscorea; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - isolation & purification; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - pharmacology; Drugs, Chinese Herbal - therapeutic use; Female; Health aspects; Kinases; Materia medica, Vegetable; Osteopenia; Osteoporosis; Ovariectomy; Ovariectomy - adverse effects; Patient outcomes; Plant extracts; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Rhizome; Rodents; Treatment Outcome; China
• ISSN: 2356-6140; 1537-744X; 1537-744X
• DOI: 10.1155/2014/645975

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.