Intraperitoneal treatment with EGCG 3.4 mg/kg/day for 3 months can mitigate bone loss and improve bone microarchitecture in ovariectomized rats, and increased expression of bone morphogenetic protein 2 may contribute to this effect.

Two new flavones, 8-hydroxy-7,3¢,4¢,5¢-tetramethoxyflavone and 8,4¢-dihydroxy-7,3¢,5¢-trimethoxyflavone, together with thirteen known compounds have been isolated from the stem bark of Muntingia calabura. The structures of two new compounds were determined through spectral analyses. Among the isolates, 8-hydroxy-7,3¢,4¢,5¢-tetramethoxyflavone, 8,4¢-dihydroxy-7,3¢,5¢-trimethoxyflavone, and 3-hydroxy-1-(3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)propan-1-one exhibited effective cytotoxicities (ED 50 values = 3.56, 3.71, and 3.27 mg/mL, respectively) against the P-388 cell line in vitro.

Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy has been used for more than three decades to treat bone diseases. The main complaint about using PEMF is that it is time-consuming. Previously, we showed single-pulsed electromagnetic field (SPEMF) applied for 3 min daily increased osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and accelerated bone growth in a long bone defect model. In the current study, we investigated the mechanism of SPEMF to increase osteogenic differentiation in osteoblastic cells. We found that both short-term (SS) and long-term (SL) SPEMF treatment increased mineralization, while alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity increased during the first 5 days of SPEMF treatment. SS treatment increased gene expression of Wnt1, Wnt3a, Wnt10b, Fzd9, ALP, and Bmp2. Also, SPEMF inhibited sclerostin after 5 days of treatment, and that inhibition was more significant with SL treatment. SL SPEMF increased expression of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) but decreased expression of Sost gene, which encodes sclerostin. Together, the early osteogenic effect of SPEMF utilizes the canonical Wnt signaling pathway while the inhibitory effect of long-term SPEMF on sclerostin may be attributable to PTHrP upregulation. This study enhances our understanding of cellular mechanisms to support the previous finding and may provide new insight for clinical applications.

CFS-1686 (chemical name (E)-N-(2-(diethylamino)ethyl)-4-(2-(2-(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)vinyl)quinolin-4-ylamino)benzamide) inhibits cell proliferation and triggers late apoptosis in prostate cancer cell lines. Comparing the effect of CFS-1686 on cell cycle progression with the topoisomerase 1 inhibitor camptothecin revealed that CFS-1686 and camptothecin reduced DNA synthesis in S-phase, resulting in cell cycle arrest at the intra-S phase and G1-S boundary, respectively. The DNA damage in CFS-1686 and camptothecin treated cells was evaluated by the level of ATM phosphorylation, γH2AX, and γH2AX foci, showing that camptothecin was more effective than CFS-1686. However, despite its lower DNA damage capacity, CFS-1686 demonstrated 4-fold higher inhibition of topoisomerase 1 than camptothecin in a DNA relaxation assay. Unlike camptothecin, CFS-1686 demonstrated no activity on topoisomerase 1 in a DNA cleavage assay, but nevertheless it reduced the camptothecin-induced DNA cleavage of topoisomerase 1 in a dose-dependent manner. Our results indicate that CFS-1686 might bind to topoisomerase 1 to inhibit this enzyme from interacting with DNA relaxation activity, unlike campothecin's induction of a topoisomerase 1-DNA cleavage complex. Finally, we used a computer docking strategy to localize the potential binding site of CFS-1686 to topoisomerase 1, further indicating that CFS-1686 might inhibit the binding of Top1 to DNA.