Shikonin relieves osteoporosis of ovariectomized mice by inhibiting RANKL-induced NF- κB and NFAT pathways.

Shikonin relieves osteoporosis of ovariectomized mice by inhibiting RANKL-induced NF-κB and NFAT pathways. Exp Cell Res. 2020 May 27;:112115 Authors: Chen Y, Zhong X, Zhang Y, Xia C, Yang M, Hu X Abstract Postmenopausal osteoporosis is very common in women. Currently, many kinds of new drugs are being developed for this disease. Postmenopausal osteoporosis is closely related to overactivity of osteoclasts in body. Shikonin is purple red naphthoquinone pigment extracted from lithospermum, which has anti-inflammation, antivirus, anticancer and other bioactivities. At the same time, it has been proved that shikonin can promote the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts, but its influence on osteoclasts and molecular mechanism are unknown. Our study showed that shikonin could inhibit the activity and formation of RANKL-mediated osteoclasts depending on dose without affecting the activity of bone marrow macrophages (BMM). In addition, we have also found that shikonin can inhibit the expression of specific marker gene of osteoclasts, including nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATc1), cathepsin K (Ctsk), tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAcP) and calcitonin receptor. Shikonin also could promote the proliferation of MC3T3-E1, increasing the expression of mRNA related to osteogenesis, like the expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), runt-related transcription factor 2 ...
Source: Experimental Cell Research - Category: Cytology Authors: Tags: Exp Cell Res Source Type: research