Asperuloside alleviates osteoporosis by promoting autophagy and regulating Nrf2 activation

BackgroundOsteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease that has a common occurrence in postmenopausal women. Asperuloside (ASP) has been reported to exert anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects in numerous diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and acute lung injury. However, whether ASP plays a role in osteoporosis has not been addressed.MethodsIn vivo, ovariectomy (OVX) was used to induce mouse osteoporosis. Then, the mice were treated with 20 and 40 mg/kg ASP. In vitro, MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with 0, 1, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mu M ASP. We chose 20 and 40 mu M for further experiments due to no significant effects on cell viability.ResultsThe data indicated that ASP reduced osteoporosis in OVX mice and promoted osteogenic differentiation and mineralization in MC3T3-E1 cells. In addition, we explored that ASP protected against osteoporosis via inducing autophagy and activating Nrf2.ConclusionASP alleviates OVX-induced osteoporosis by promoting autophagy and regulating Nrf2 activation.