Osteoporosis ranks seventh among the common and frequently occurring diseases in the world. At present, there are more than 9million patients with osteoporosis in China, that is, one in 14 people is sick. The incidence of postmenopausal women is even higher. Fractures caused by osteoporosis not only cause physical and mental pain to patients, but also cause huge economic burden to the society. Therefore, the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis is imperative. Using the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine to develop economical, safe and effective traditional Chinese medicine is an important aspect of preventing and treating osteoporosis.
Epimedium is one of the most frequently used Chinese herbal medicines in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis. The research on its anti osteoporosis activity and effective components has been a hot spot in the field of osteoporosis research in China in recent 20 years. A large number of anti osteoporosis animal experiments have shown that both Epimedium water extract and total flavonoids extract have anti osteoporosis activities. Icariin is the most abundant flavonoid glycoside in Epimedium, which can improve the function of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system, enhance immunity and regulate endocrine. At the same time, it also has anti-tumor, anti hepatotoxicity, anti hypoxia / reperfusion and other effects. It has been found that icariin can enhance the ability of ovariectomized osteoporosis rats to resist external impact, effectively inhibit bone loss and prevent the occurrence of osteoporosis. In recent years, it has been reported that icariin affects the proliferation, differentiation and function of bone marrow mesenchymal hepatocytes, osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The content of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) is extremely rich in human embryos and newborns, and they mainly differentiate into osteoblasts, but almost do not differentiate into adipocytes. With the growth of age, BMSCs gradually become more differentiated into adipocytes, and less differentiated into osteoblasts. In old age, adipocytes can occupy more than 90% of the volume of medullary cavity. At this time, the incidence of osteoporosis has reached the peak. From this, people realize that the occurrence of osteoporosis is closely related to the osteogenic differentiation ability of BMSCs. It was found that icariin could enhance the activity of ALP and the expression of osteocalcin, and promote the differentiation of BMSCs into osteoblasts. At the same time, icariin decreased the expression of lipoprotein lipase and fatty acid binding protein in adipocytes, and the number of lipid droplets decreased significantly, inhibiting the transformation of BMSCs into adipocytes.
Modern pharmacological studies have confirmed that Epimedium has sex hormone like effects and can promote bone marrow cells DNA synthesis can promote protein synthesis in bone tissue, promote the growth of rat osteoblasts, and induce apoptosis of rabbit osteoclasts. An important aspect of the pathological mechanism of clinical osteoporosis is that the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts are inhibited, and they can not form enough bone collagen and non collagen proteins, so that the bone trabeculae becomes sparse and broken, and the bone quality and bone mass are decreased. Osteoblasts not only determine the formation of bone, but also regulate the absorption of bone by osteoclasts. They are the main functional cells of bone metabolism. Their proliferation largely determines the final amount of bone formation. Therefore, the key to prevent and treat osteoporosis is to improve the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts. Icariin (20 μ g · ML-1) significantly promoted the proliferation of osteoblasts. 20 μ g · ml-1 icariin can increase The absorbance value of MTT can stimulate the proliferation of human osteoblasts and significantly increase the specific activity of alkaline phosphatase of human osteoblasts. Alkaline phosphatase is an important protein involved in bone metabolism and is considered to be an early marker of extracellular matrix maturation. The activity of alkaline phosphatase can represent the early differentiation level of osteoblasts. Therefore, 20 μ g · ml-1 icariin can promote the differentiation and maturation of human osteoblasts.
To sum up, we can find thatIcariinIt can not only promote bone formation, but also inhibit bone resorption, so as to play an anti osteoporosis role with dual activity. We can believe that icariin will play an important role in the treatment of osteoporosis with the further research on icariin's anti osteoporosis.