Icariin Augments Bone Formation and Reverses the Phenotypes of Osteoprotegerin-Deficient Mice through the Activation of Wnt/β-Catenin-BMP Signaling
Figure 5
Icariin activated BMPs/Smads/Runx2 signaling in bone marrow stromal cells. Primary bone marrow stromal cells were cultured with or without Icariin (1, 10, and 50 μM) for 2 days; then the ALP staining assay was performed and the mRNA expression of BMP ligands, Smads protein expression, and Runx2 protein expression were,respectively, examined. The results of ALP staining indicated that a high dose of Icariin (50 μM) enhanced the expression of ALP (a). Data were expressed as mean ± SD, . The qPCR data (b) showed that a high dose of Icariin (50 μM) significantly increased the expression of BMP2, BMP4, BMP7, GDF5, and the Western-blot analysis results (c) showed that a high dose of Icariin (50 μM) increased the protein level of Phosphorylated-Smads1/5/8, Smad4, and Runx2. , unpaired Student’s t-test (Icariin versus vehicle control).
