title: Astragaloside I Stimulates Osteoblast Differentiation Through the Wnt/β-catenin Signaling Pathway.
abstract: Astragaloside I (As-I), one of the main active ingredients in Astragalus membranaceus, is believed to have osteogenic properties, but this hypothesis has not been investigated in detail. In the present work, the As-I-induced osteogenic effects and its underlying mechanism were studied in MC3T3-E1 cells. The results indicated that the cellular levels of ALP and extracellular matrix calcium increased in a dose-dependent manner by As-I. To clarify the mechanisms involved in this process, the effect of As-I on the key osteogenic-related genes was investigated. We found that As-I stimulated the expression of β-catenin and Runx2 in MC3T3-E1 cells, which play central roles in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, suggesting that As-I could promote osteoblastic differentiation by regulating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Moreover, the osteogenic effect of As-I could be inhibited by DKK-1, which is the classical inhibitor of Wnt/β-catenin-signaling pathway. Furthermore, As-I also increased BMP-2, BGP and OPG/RANKL expression, which are also activated by Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Taken together, our findings show that As-I stimulates osteoblast differentiation through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which also activates the BMP pathway and RANK pathway, thus highlighting the As-I for pharmaceutical and medicinal applications such as treating bone disease. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic, Linyi People's Hospital, Science and Technology Develop Project of Shandong province, Linyi, 276000, China.
authors.forename: Biaofang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China. lijuansun1212@163.com.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Jichao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-Resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China. cy101610@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000187:drug effects*; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000187:drug effects; D012503:Saponins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D012503:Saponins; D014315:Triterpenes; C052064:astragaloside A
keywords: BMP; MC3T3-E1; RANK; Wnt/β-catenin; astragaloside I