Panax Notoginseng Saponins Prevent Bone Loss by Promoting Angiogenesis in an Osteoporotic Mouse Model

Abstract

With the aging of the population and the extension of life expectancy, osteoporosis is becoming a global epidemic. Although there are several drugs used to treat osteoporosis in clinical practice, such as parathyroid hormone or bisphosphonates, they all have some serious side effects. Therefore, a safer drug is called for osteoporosis, especially for the prevention in the early stage of the disease, not only the treatment in the later stage. Panax notoginseng saponin (PNS), a traditional Chinese herb, has been used as anti-ischemic drug due to its function on improving vascular circulation. In order to verify whether Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) could be used to prevent osteoporosis, ovariectomy (OVX) was induced in female C57BL/C6J mice, followed by orally administration with 40 mg/kg/d, 80 mg/kg/d, and 160 mg/kg/d of three different dosages of PNS for 9 weeks. Serum biochemical analysis, micro-CT, histological evaluation, and immunostaining of markers of osteogenesis and angiogenesis were performed in the sham, osteoporotic (OVX), and treatment (OVX+PNS) groups. Micro-CT and histological evaluation showed that compared to sham group, the bone mass of OVX group reduced significantly, while it was significantly restored in the moderate-dose PNS (40 mg/kg and 80 mg/kg) treatment groups. The expression of CD31 and osteocalcin (OCN) in the bone tissue of treatment group also increased, suggesting that PNS activated osteogenesis and angiogenesis, which subsequently increased the bone mass. These results confirmed the potential function of PNS on the prevention of osteoporosis. However, in the high dose of PNS (160 mg/kg) group, the antiosteoportic effect had been eliminated, which also suggested the importance of proper dose of PNS for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Exploring the Mechanism of Total Flavonoids of Drynariae Rhizoma to Improve Large Bone Defects by Network Pharmacology and Experimental Assessment

“…Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as an important component of complementary and alternative medicine system, has been used to cure disease in China for over two thousand years ( Tang et al, 2008 ). Several TCM formulas and herbal extracts have been proved to be effective for LBDs by promoting the formation of new bone and improving the quality of calcification ( Hu et al, 2020 ).…”

Panax notoginseng saponins attenuate intervertebral disc degeneration by reducing the end plate porosity in lumbar spinal instability mice

“… 23 Several studies had showed that PNS exert anti‐osteoporosis effect in radiation‐induced and ovariectomy‐induced osteoporotic mice by dual action: stimulation of bone formation and inhibition of bone resorption. 24 , 25 Another study found that n‐Butanol extracts of Panax notoginseng, which contained 24.1% ginsenoside Rb1 and 8.4% notoginsenoside R1, inhibited osteoclastogenesis in LPS‐activated RAW264.7 cells by suppressing MAPK signaling pathway. 26 However, whether PNS could play a positive role in IDD remain unknown.…”

“…Besides, human IVDs bear much more mechanical forces than quadrupedal animal due to the upright posture; thus, whether the PNS treatment could work in human require more evidence from bipedal primates animal (eg, rhesus monkey) experiments and clinical trials.PNS is the major component of Xuesaitong, a very widely usedChinese patent medicine, whose mainly pharmacological effect is improving microcirculation. Besides, several studies including our previous study had proved its function in anti-osteoporosis,24,25,35 but no studies have investigated its function in IDD. The present study demonstrated for the first time that appropriate doses of PNS can effectively inhibit EP degeneration and attenuate the decline of IVD volume.…”

“…And we also applied a high dose of 160 mg/kg/d, which was a little higher than the recommended maximum dose (120 mg/kg/d) and had been reported in previous study. 25 After 8-week PNS treatment, all mice were euthanized. PBS and paraformaldehyde were perfused into the whole body through the left ventricle.…”

Exploring the mechanisms of Drynariae Rhizoma on treating memory impairment through network pharmacology

“…Drynariae Rhizoma (DR), also called Gusuibu in Chinese, has a long history in strengthening bones in clinical use. The biological evaluations reveal that total avonoids of DR have a potent effect on both osteoporotic fracture and large bone defect [13,14]. Fewer studies have investigated the relationship between DR and brain [15,16].…”