Drynariae Rhizoma has great significance in the clinical practice of osteoporosis treatment. Based on the perspective of integrative pharmacology, the study explored the mechanism of action of Drynariae Rhizoma in the treatment of osteoporosis. Six active components in Drynariae Rhizoma were obtained, mainly including glycosides and sterols. Taking the median of 2 times of "node connectivity" as the card value, the core node of the Chinese medicine target disease gene interaction network was selected. Based on this, three topological structural eigenvalues, such as "node connectivity" "node tightness" and "node connectivity" were calculated, thereby screening out four core targets of Drynariae Rhizoma treatment for osteoporosis, including thyroid parathyroid hormone 1 receptor (PTH1R), parathyroid hormone 2 receptor (PTH2R), calcitonin receptor gene (CALCR), and SPTBN1 gene (SPTBN1). Based on the gene ontology database GO and KEGG pathway database, the molecular function, intracellular localization, and biological reactions and pathways of proteins encoded by drug target genes were determined. Combined with enrichment calculation, it is predicted that osteoporosis may play a role in biosynthetic processes, such as circulatory system, nervous system, energy metabolism, prolactin signal pathway, GnRH signaling pathway, neurotrophic factor signaling pathway and other pathway. The conclusion of this study is certain with the existing research results, and the new target and new pathway could also be used as a theoretical basis for the further verification of osteoporosis.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Osteoporosis ; drug therapy ; Polypodiaceae ; chemistry ; Receptor, Parathyroid Hormone, Type 1 ; metabolism ; Receptor, Parathyroid Hormone, Type 2 ; metabolism ; Receptors, Calcitonin ; metabolism ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Spectrin ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of total flavones of Epimedium leptorrhizum (YYH-C) on osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats.

METHODOvariectomized female rats were randomly divided into the model group, YYH-C lower, middle and high dose (0.7, 1.4, 2.8 g x kg(-1)) groups, the positive drug Bujiale (0.15 mg x kg(-1)) group, and the sham group. The rats were orally ad-ministrated with drugs for three months. Parathyroid hormone (PTH), procollagen I N-terminal peptide (PINP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), calcium (Ca) and phosphrous (P) in serum were detected. Femur bones and vertebrae bones of left side were collected to determined bone metrological indexes, including bone mineral density (BMD), bone Ca, and bone ash weight/dry weight percentage. Femur bones of right side were collected to for a morphological observation of bone.

RESULTCompared with the sham group, the model group showed significantly higher PTH and ALP content but obviously lower PINP and Ca content. The three YYH-C 3 groups could resist the decrease of PINP. Specifically, low and middle dose groups could remarkably inhibit the increase of PTH, and the high dose group could increase the Ca content in serum, but without significant effect on the rise in ALP. There was no significant difference in P content in serum in each group. BMD, ash weight/dry weight percentage, Ca and P content of the model group were significantly lower than those in the sham group. The high dose YYH-C group could significantly increase BMD. All of the three YYH-C groups could notably increase ash weight/dry weight percentage and Ca, P content in femur bones and vertebrae bones. YYH-C could significantly increase average thickness, area, area percentage of bony trabeculae, cortical bone area percentage of femoral shaft and the number of osteoblasts on the surface of bony trabeculae, and decrease the number of osteoclasts.

CONCLUSIONYYH-C can effectively control the bone mass loss of rats with ovariectomy-induced osteoporosis, prevent the changes in bone microstructure, and inhibit bone absorption, so as to resist high turn-over osteoporosis after ovariectomy. [Key words] total flavones of Epimedium leptorrhizum; ovariectomized rat; osteoporosis

Alkaline Phosphatase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bone Density ; drug effects ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; Female ; Flavones ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Ovariectomy ; Parathyroid Hormone ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

The structure and function of short-length amino terminal PTH analogues were studied. The substitution of Leu7 with Phe in [Ala3, 10Leu7Arg11]rPTH (1-11) NH2 analogue peptides did not show any reduction in cAMP formation. Replacement of the 1st, 7th and 8th residues revealed different activities, depending upon the residue type. The substitution of Ala1 by Ser in [Ala3, 10Leu7Arg11]rPTH (1-11) NH2 caused nearly a complete loss of cAMP formation. Meanwhile, NMR analysis of [ (Ala1/ Ser1) Ala3, 10 (Leu7/Phe7) Arg11]rPTH (1-11) NH2 revealed an alpha- helical backbone structure with a flexible conformation at the carboxyl-terminus. The overall results suggest that 11-residue short oligopeptide analogues of PTH tend to form an alpha-helical structure and the different activities of those analogues could be associated with residue specificity rather than the secondary conformational structure.
Amino Acid Substitution ; Animals ; Circular Dichroism ; Cyclic AMP/metabolism ; Human ; LLC-PK1 Cells ; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular ; Parathyroid Hormone/*chemistry/*metabolism ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Receptor, Parathyroid Hormone, Type 1/genetics ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Swine

Firstly, parathyroid hormone (1-14) [PTH (1-14)] analogue containing various alpha-amino-iso-butyric acid residue (Aib) was synthesized by exchanging the 1st and 3rd Ala residues of alpha carbon of PTH (1-14). This analogue revealed to have the quite tight and stable alpha-helical structure using the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The biological activities of these analogues were examined using a cAMP-generating assay in LLC-PK1 cell lines stably transfected with the wild-type human PTH1 receptor. Only the PTH analogue substituted with methyl moiety without acetylation showed significant cAMP generating action with 15.0 +/- 3.414 of EC50. Then, we used an ovariectomized rat model system to compare the in vivo effects of parathyroid hormone analogue with that of PTH (1-84). Daily subcutaneous administration of the unacetylated Aib1,3PTH (1-14) for 5 weeks in 30 nM/kg subcutaneously with positive control group receiving PTH (1-84) with 8 nM/ kg were performed. However, there was no significant change in spinal or femoral bone mineral density assessed by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in the Aib1,3PTH (1-14) group where definite increase of these parameters shown in the PTH (1-84) group (p < 0.001). Assessment of bone strength was evaluated with no significant differences among all groups. It was quite disappointing to see the actual discrepancies between the result of significant pharmacokinetic potency and the in vivo clinical effect of the Aib1,3PTH (1-14). However, there are several limitations to mention, such as the short duration of treatment, matter of dosage, and insufficient effect of tight alpha-helical structures with absence of C-terminus. In conclusion, our findings suggest that unacetylated Aib1,3PTH (1-14) did not exhibit any anabolic effects at the bones of ovariectomized rats.
Transfection ; Time Factors ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Stress, Mechanical ; Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission ; Rats ; Protein Structure, Tertiary ; Protein Structure, Secondary ; Protein Conformation ; Protein Binding ; Peptides/chemistry ; Parathyroid Hormone/*analogs & derivatives/chemistry/*metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Molecular Conformation ; Models, Statistical ; Models, Molecular ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; LLC-PK1 Cells ; Humans ; Female ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Densitometry ; Cyclic AMP/metabolism ; Cell Line ; Bone and Bones/metabolism ; Bone Density ; Biomechanics ; Animals ; Aminoisobutyric Acids/*metabolism ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Alanine/chemistry

Human parathyroid hormone (hPTH) was highly expressed in Escherichia coli by inserted the synthesized whole hPTH cDNA into the vectors pBV220 and pET22b. After expression and disruption, the purified product was acquired through cation exchange chromatography and reverse phase chromatography. From the results of N-terminal sequencing and MALDI-TOF-MS analysis the recombiant prtein was indentified as intact hPTH. In in vitro Bioassays the recombinant hPTH stimulated adenylate cyclase as the standard did. In ovariectomized rats the recombinant hPTH markedly increased the femoral bone mass and bone mineral density.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Bone Density ; drug effects ; Chromatography, Ion Exchange ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Ovariectomy ; Parathyroid Hormone ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sequence Alignment ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization