Abstract
Hyperprolactinemia is a common endocrine disease in women of reproductive age. Research has shown that patients with hyperprolactinemia often have decreased bone mineral density and an increased risk of fractures. However, there is still a lack of effective treatments. Paeoniflorin, one of the primary bioactive components in peony, is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. Research has shown that paeoniflorin promotes osteoblast differentiation. However, whether paeoniflorin plays a role in hyperprolactinemia-induced osteoblastogenesis inhibition is not yet clear. In this study, we investigated the effect of paeoniflorin on prolactin (PRL)-mediated inhibition of osteoblast function. Our results showed that prolactin significantly reduced the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Osterix, and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) in MC3T3-E1 cells cultured in an osteoblast differentiation medium, suggesting that prolactin inhibited osteoblast function. After treatment with paeoniflorin (PF), the expression of these osteoblast markers was upregulated. In addition, our findings proved that paeoniflorin increased the absorbance values of ALP-positive cells and the areas of alizarin red S (ARS) deposition compared to those in the prolactin group, suggesting that paeoniflorin reversed the PRL-induced reduction in osteoblast differentiation. The PRL-induced activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) was significantly reversed by paeoniflorin, indicating that paeoniflorin promoted osteoblast function by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway. In summary, these results showed that paeoniflorin alleviated the inhibitory effect of prolactin on osteoblastogenesis by suppressing the NF-κB signaling pathway.