Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol promotes BMP-2-induced osteoblastogenesis through its agonistic effects on estrogen receptor

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Estrogen deficiency results in an imbalance between the levels of bone-resorping osteoclasts and bone-forming osteoblasts, eventually leading to overall bone loss. Dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA), a lignan compound originally isolated from <I>Cucurbita moschata</I>, has been shown to bind to estrogen receptor, and indeed exhibits various activities of estrogen, such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress effects. In this study, we tested whether synthetic DHCA could affect the BMP-2-induced osteoblastogenesis in vitro. In MC3T3-E1 cells, DHCA promoted BMP-2-induced differentiation of osteoblasts. Consistently, the expression of three osteoblastogenic genes known to be induced by BMP-2, ALP, osteocalcin and OPG, was up-regulated by DHCA treatment. DHCA was also shown to activate the production of RUNX2 by activating Smad1/5/9 and AMPK. Data from transient transfection assays suggested that DHCA might activate the estrogen receptor signaling pathway. Effects of DHCA on BMP-2-induced osteoblastogenesis were reduced when cells were treated with a specific siRNA to ERα or ERβ. Taken together, our results suggest that DHCA may be developed as an efficient therapeutic for osteoporosis by regulating osteoblastogenesis through its estrogenic effects.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> DHCA promotes BMP-2-induced osteoblasts differentiation. </LI> <LI> DHCA upregulated the production of RUNX2 by activating Smad1/5/9 and AMPK. </LI> <LI> DHCA exerted its osteoblastogenic activities through acting as an agonist of both estrogen receptor alpha and beta. </LI> </UL> </P>