Proteomic Identification of Plasma Components in and Their Effects on the Longitudinal Bone Growth Rate in Rats.

() is a marine animal and traditional Chinese medicine. plasma is a valuable resource for important medical and health-based functions. In this experiment, in order to evaluate the effect and mechanism of plasma with respect to the promotion of bone tissue growth in rats, the processes of ultrafiltration and mass spectrometry were first used to separate and identify the components of plasma. Then, a comparison of the effects of the plasma samples, which each possessed different molecular weights, regarding the growth of the long bones of rats was conducted. Finally, transcriptomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics were all used to analyze the biological functions and related signaling pathways of the plasma in order to promote rat bone growth. The results showed that the contents of amino acid residues in peptides are related to the growth promotion that was contained in the 10-30 kDa plasma group. Moreover, the plasma samples were found to be higher in this respect than those in the whole plasma group. In addition, the 10-30 kDa plasma group could significantly promote bone growth activity in rats. The proteomic analysis showed that the proteins that were differentially expressed in the 10-30 kDa plasma group were mainly enriched in the PI3K-AKT signal pathway. Our study suggested that the plasma possesses promising potential for the purposes of clinical use, whereby it can serve the role of a growth-promoting agent.