Paeoniflorin Attenuates Dexamethasone-Induced Apoptosis of Osteoblast Cells and Promotes Bone Formation via Regulating AKT/mTOR/Autophagy Signaling Pathway

Figure 4

Paeoniflorin promotes the bone turnover marker in the serum of GIOP mice and regulates the apoptosis and autophagy of MC3T3-E1 in GIOP mice. (a–c) The serum levels of ALP, OCN, and CTx were detected by ELISA tests.  < 0.01 vs. sham;  < 0.01 vs. DEX. (d) Effects of paeoniflorin on histological assessment of bone sections in GIOP mice (hematoxylin and eosin staining: magnification, x100). The areas stained red represent bone trabeculae. Immunostaining of Bax and Beclin-1 was captured at 200x magnification. (e) Bax and Beclin-1 staining was quantified by a bone histomorphometric analysis using Image-Pro Plus software. Columns represent mean ± SD from at least three independent experiments,  < 0.05;  < 0.01 vs. sham;  < 0.05 vs. DEX.

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