Abstract
Osteoporosis renders postmenopausal women susceptible to alveolar bone loss and complicates dental care, highlighting the urgent need for devising safe and effective nutritional strategies that support bone health. Cuscuta chinensis, a traditional medicinal plant, contains flavonoids with reported bioactivity on bone metabolism. This study aimed to evaluate the osteogenic potential of the total flavonoids of C. chinensis (TFCC) using human dental pulp stem cells (HDPSCs) and establish their preventive relevance for osteoporosis management. HDPSCs were treated with TFCC, and osteogenic differentiation was assessed employing alkaline phosphatase activity, Alizarin red S staining, wound-healing assay, RNA sequencing, and Western blotting of Wnt/β-catenin pathway proteins. TFCC at low concentrations enhanced HDPSC proliferation and markedly promoted osteogenic differentiation, as evidenced by elevated mineralized nodule formation and accelerated wound closure. Transcriptomic and protein analyses confirmed the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, including an upregulation of runt-related transcription factor 2, osteopontin, β-catenin, and lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1, with a concomitant phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3 β. Additionally, TFCC also mitigated the inhibitory effects of the Wnt inhibitor XAV-939. These findings indicate enhanced osteogenic differentiation in response to TFCC treatment, a process that may involve Wnt/β-catenin pathway modulation. Our results suggest that TFCC may serve as a diet component for maintaining bone health in menopausal women, offering new translational potential for osteoporosis-related dental care.