Effect of total flavonoids of Herba Taxilli on osteoporotic rats induced by retinoic acid

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to study the effect of total flavonoids of Herba Taxilli (TFHT) on osteoporotic (OP) rats induced by retinoic acid (RA) and explore its mechanism. Methods: Three-month-old female Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups, each with ten rats, i.e. normal control group, model group, and positive control group and three TFHT groups (at high-, middle-, and low-doses). Except the normal control group, rats of all the other groups were administered RA by gavage (70 mg/kg/day) every morning for 14 days to establish an OP model; at the same time, all the rats were given Corresponding therapeutic drug by gavage for 28 days: rats in the three TFHT groups were given TFHT (400, 200, and 100 mg/kg/day, respectively) and rats in the positive control group were given Long mu Zhuang gu Granule 300 mg/kg/day. Rats in the model group and normal group were given an equal volume of 1% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose sodium suspension. After the experiment, blood was taken to measure the levels of serum calcium (Ca2+), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP); the spleen, uterus, and ovary were dissected to determine the organ coefficient; the left hind limb femur was dissected to determine bone mineral density (BMD), bone dry weight (BDW), bone wet weight (BWW), bone diameter (BD), bone length (BL), bone dry weight/rat weight (BDW/W), bone wet weight/rat weight (BWW/W), bone dry weight/bone wet weight (BDW/BWW), bone dry weight/bone length (BDW/L), and bone wet weight/bone diameter (BWW/D); and the right hind limb femur was dissected to observe the bone path morphological changes. Results: Compared with the model group, the serum Ca2+ content, uterus plus ovary coefficient, BMD, BDW, BDW/W, BWW/W, BDW/BWW, BDW/L, and BWW/D in the TFHT groups increased, whereas the spleen coefficient, ALP, and TRAP decreased in the TFHT groups, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05 orP < 0.01). Conclusion: TFHT was found effective in treating OP in rats induced by RA; the main mechanisms were increasing the serum Ca2+ content and reducing the level of ALP and TRAP.

Keywords

• osteoporosis
• retinoic acid
• total flavonoids of herba taxilli