Compatibility of Chinese nourishing kidney herbs influences osteoblast activity and Smad4 mRNA expression / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Chinese nourishing kidney herbs can prevent osteoporosis and improve bone metabolism, which has been proved in animal and cel experiments. But there are few reports on the compatibility of Chinese nourishing kidney herbs, and it is difficult to screen the optimal compatibility, as the interaction of active ingredients and drug substance basis are uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To determine the proliferation, differentiation and Smad4 mRNA expression of neonatal Sprague-Dawley rat osteoblasts cultured by Chinese nourishing kidney herbs with different compatibility so as to find out the optimal compatibility of Chinese nourishing kidney herbs. METHODS: Passage 5 osteoblasts were divided into five groups group A, 1×10-5mol/L icarin; group B, 1×10-5mol/L icarin+1×10-5 mol/L naringin; group C, 1×10-5mol/L icarin+1×10-5 mol/L diosgenin; group D, 1×10-5mol/L icarin+ 1×10-5mol/L catalpol; group E, 10 μL normal saline (control group). There were six wels in each group. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the group E, the proliferative ability of osteoblasts and expression of Smad4 mRNA were increased in the groups B and C; until the 72nd hour, the proliferative ability of osteoblasts in the group B reached the peak. At 48 hours of culture, the activity of alkaline phosphatase in groups B and C was higher than that in group E; at 72 hours of culture, the activity of alkaline phosphatase in groups B and D was higher than that in group E. These findings indicate that the compatibility of Chinese nourishing kidney herbs can influence the activity of osteoblasts, and icarin+naringin has the strongest effect.