Saponins from the Sea Cucumber Promote the Osteoblast Differentiation in MC3T3-E1 Cells through the Activation of the BMP2/ Smads Pathway

Title:Saponins from the Sea Cucumber Promote the Osteoblast Differentiation in MC3T3-E1 Cells through the Activation of the BMP2/ Smads Pathway

Volume: 22 Issue: 14

Author(s): Zhuo Li*, Yingying Tian, Hongge Ma, Meiling Wang, Ziyi Yan, Changhu Xue*Jingfeng Wang*

Affiliation:

• College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province,China

• College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province,China

• College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, Shandong Province,China

Keywords: Sea cucumber saponins, osteogenesis, osteogenic differentiation, BMP2/Smads signaling pathway, adipogenic environment.

Abstract:

Background: Several studies have shown that plant saponins promoted osteoblast differentiation and improved osteoporosis. In the current study, Sea Cucumber Saponin (SCS) with a purity of 80% was extracted from Filipino sea cucumber, with a similar structure to plant saponins.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the effects of SCS on bone formation in vitro and ex vivo.

Results: SCS significantly promoted osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells, as well as new osteoid formation in neonatal mouse calvarias ex vivo. qRT-PCR results indicated that SCS markedly down-regulated the expression of C/EBPα* and PPARγ at the levels of transcription, which demonstrate that SCS inhibits the trans-differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells to an adipocytic phenotype. Moreover, further studies revealed that SCS increased the expression levels of Runx2 and OSX. The mechanism revealed that SCS induced the expression of BMP2 and p-Smad1/5, which indicated that SCS facilitated osteogenesis via activating the BMP2/Smads signaling pathway.

Conclusion: SCS promoted osteogenic differentiation of pre-osteoblasts by activating the BMP2/ Smads molecular pathway, providing a theoretical basis for the development of sea cucumber saponins for the treatment to bone loss diseases such as osteoporosis.

Cite this article as:

Li Zhuo *, Tian Yingying , Ma Hongge , Wang Meiling , Yan Ziyi , Xue Changhu *, Wang Jingfeng *, Saponins from the Sea Cucumber Promote the Osteoblast Differentiation in MC3T3-E1 Cells through the Activation of the BMP2/ Smads Pathway, Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 2021; 22 (14) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1389201021666200519135446