No abstract

Osteoporosis is a reduction in skeletal mass due to the decrease of osteogenic ability and the activation of the osteoclastic function. Inhibiting bone resorption and accelerating the new bone formation is a promising strategy to repair the bone defect of osteoporosis. In this study, we first systematically investigated the roles of Chinese medicine Asperosaponin VI (ASP VI) on osteogenic mineralization of BMSCs and osteoclastogenesis of BMMs, and then explored the synergistic effect of ASP VI and BS (BMP-2 immobilized in 2-N, 6-O-sulfated chitosan) on bone formation. The result showed that ASP VI with the concentration lower than 10 −4 M contributed to the expression of osteogenic gene and inhibited osteoclastic genes RANKL of BMSCs. Simultaneously, ASP VI significantly reduced the differentiation of mononuclear osteoclasts in the process of osteoclast formation induced by M-CSF and RANKL. Furthermore, by stimulating the SMADs, TGF-β1, VEGFA, and OPG/RANKL signaling pathways, ASBS (ASP VI and BS) substantially enhanced osteogenesis, greatly promoted angiogenesis, and suppressed osteoclastogenesis. The findings provide a new perspective on osteoporosis care and prevention.

It is of considerable significance to fabricate scaffolds with satisfactory osteogenic activities and high osteogenesis quality to accelerate osteoporotic repair.

Polycarboxylate superplasticisers (PCE) were synthesised and their structure was characterised by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy. The simulated physiological environmental effects on the workability retention of cement paste containing PCE were studied; that is, stimuli response to sulfates by measuring the fluidity, waterreducing ratio, compressive strength and setting time. The fluidity and water-reducing ratio of cement paste containing PCE with a long chain weakly depended on the salt dosage, but properties of compressive strength and setting time were strongly influenced by the salt dosage. However, the fluidity, water-reducing ratio, compressive strength and setting time of cement containing PCE with both long and short chains were strongly influenced by alkaline sulfate. PCE with a long side chain has a good compatibility with cement paste. The ionic responsive properties are attributed to the change of the PCE adsorption ratio, which results directly in a variation of the dispersing force of superplasticiser.

Microtopography of fiber of Discorea nipponica Makino before and after mechanical activated by AGO-2 planetary mill was observed by SEM, and they changed the thick floccules to fine particles (D50 particle sizes were 10.18μm). Discorea fiber powder after mechanical activation had a narrow size distribution. According to XRD, the granularity and structures of discorea fiber with and without mechanical activation significantly differed, and the crystalline of discorea fiber was significantly converted into amorphous state after mechanical activation. On the basis of TG–DSC analysis, the activity of discorea fiber was enhanced, and certain internal energy were stored, and complete decomposition in advance. According to FT-IR, none of the functional groups of the mechanically activated discorea fiber disappeared, and no new functional groups appeared, which indicate that mechanical activation does not induce a chemical transformation of discorea fiber. According to the activation energy analysis, the thermal activation energy of dioscorea fiber after mechanical activation was18.49 kJ•mol, and the mechanical transfer activation energy was 56.06 kJ•mol, indicating that about 1/3 of the mechanical transfer activation energy was stored in the activated dioscorea fiber fine powder in the form of surface energy and internal energy.