Joo Seong-Soo, Won Tae-Joon, Kang Hee-Cheol, Lee Do-Ik
Department of Immunology, College of Pharmacy, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 156-756, Korea.
Arch Pharm Res. 2004 Jan;27(1):99-105. doi: 10.1007/BF02980054.
Isoflavones have been a central subject in research on the natural phytoestrogens found in Leguminosae. Their effects on bone formation and remodeling are important in that they can act like estrogen by binding on estrogen receptors on the target cell surface. We, therefore, believed that isoflavones may help in the treatment of patients with estrogen deficiency disease such as estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) for osteoporosis. As commonly known, osteoporosis is one of the hormonal deficiency diseases, especially in menopausal women. When estrogen is no longer produced in the body a remarkable bone remodeling process occurs, and the associated events are regulated by growth factors in the osteoblast lineage. In the present study, we investigated whether isoflavones (Isocal) extracted from Sophorae fructus affect the growth factors IGF-I and TGF-beta that have been known to be related with bone formation. In the study, we found that the active control (PIII) effectively enhanced the level of nitric oxide (NO) and growth factors, and thereby inhibited osteoclastogenesis. The most efficient concentration was 10(-8)% within five days, whereas the comparative control (soybean isoflavone) was not as effective even at a lower concentration. In conclusion, the products which contain enriched glucosidic isoflavone and nutrient supplements such as shark cartilage and calcium can be used for osteoporosis therapy by enhancing the production of IGF-I and TGF-beta. Furthermore, the NO produced through endothelial constitutive NO synthase (ecNOS) may play a role in inhibiting bone reabsorption.
异黄酮一直是豆科植物中天然植物雌激素研究的核心课题。它们对骨形成和重塑的影响很重要，因为它们可以通过与靶细胞表面的雌激素受体结合而发挥类似雌激素的作用。因此，我们认为异黄酮可能有助于治疗雌激素缺乏症患者，如用于骨质疏松症的雌激素替代疗法（ERT）。众所周知，骨质疏松症是一种激素缺乏性疾病，尤其是在绝经后女性中。当体内不再产生雌激素时，就会发生显著的骨重塑过程，相关事件由成骨细胞谱系中的生长因子调节。在本研究中，我们调查了从槐角中提取的异黄酮（Isocal）是否会影响已知与骨形成相关的生长因子IGF-I和TGF-β。在研究中，我们发现活性对照（PIII）有效地提高了一氧化氮（NO）和生长因子的水平，从而抑制了破骨细胞生成。最有效的浓度在五天内为10^(-8)%，而对照物（大豆异黄酮）即使在较低浓度下也没有那么有效。总之，含有丰富糖苷异黄酮以及鲨鱼软骨和钙等营养补充剂的产品可通过提高IGF-I和TGF-β的产生用于骨质疏松症治疗。此外，通过内皮型一氧化氮合酶（ecNOS）产生的NO可能在抑制骨吸收中起作用。
