Department of Orthopedics, The First People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2017 Oct;21(19):4446-4456.
The current study was to explore the effect of melatonin on osteoporosis and relevant mechanisms.
We performed micro-CT to detect bone microstructure and ELISA to detect the contents of osteocalcin (OCN) and bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) in serum. Double fluorescence labeling of calcein and tetracycline and toluidine blue staining were used to determine morphological indexes of bone tissues. Alizarin red staining and Oil Red O staining were performed to recognize bone cells and adipocytes. RT-PCR was performed to determine the expression of osteoblast differentiation related genes.
In the current study, data from micro-CT indicated that melatonin significantly increased the bone mass density (BMD), bone volume/tissue volume (BV/TV), trabecular number (Tb.N) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), and decreased the Structure Model Index (SMI) and trabecular Separation/Spacing (Tb.Sp) in elderly rats. Melatonin reduced calcium and phosphorus losses in urine and increased BAP and OCN levels in serum in elderly rats and increased bone formation rate (BFR) and bone mineralization rate (MAR) in elderly rats. Melatonin increased the number of osteoblasts in bone marrow and reduced the number of adipocytes in elderly rats. Melatonin also promoted the expression of osteogenic differentiation genes and suppressed the expression of adipogenic differentiation genes.
WE suggest that melatonin could alleviate osteoporosis in aged rats' models probably by promoting osteoblast differentiation.
本研究旨在探讨褪黑素对骨质疏松症的影响及其相关机制。
我们采用 micro-CT 检测骨微结构，采用 ELISA 检测血清中骨钙素（OCN）和骨碱性磷酸酶（BAP）的含量。采用双荧光标记钙黄绿素和四环素以及甲苯胺蓝染色来测定骨组织的形态学指标。采用茜素红染色和油红 O 染色来识别骨细胞和脂肪细胞。采用 RT-PCR 来测定成骨细胞分化相关基因的表达。
在本研究中，micro-CT 数据表明，褪黑素显著增加了老年大鼠的骨密度（BMD）、骨体积/组织体积（BV/TV）、骨小梁数量（Tb.N）和骨小梁厚度（Tb.Th），并降低了结构模型指数（SMI）和骨小梁分离/间距（Tb.Sp）。褪黑素减少了老年大鼠尿中钙和磷的流失，增加了血清中 BAP 和 OCN 的水平，并增加了老年大鼠的骨形成率（BFR）和骨矿化率（MAR）。褪黑素增加了骨髓中成骨细胞的数量，减少了老年大鼠脂肪细胞的数量。褪黑素还促进了成骨分化基因的表达，抑制了成脂分化基因的表达。
我们认为褪黑素可能通过促进成骨细胞分化来缓解老年大鼠模型中的骨质疏松症。
