Abstract
Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) is a chronic systemic bone metabolism disorder. Promotion in the patterns of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) differentiation towards osteoblasts contributes to alleviating osteoporosis. Aucubin, a natural compound isolated from the well-known herbal medicine Eucommia, was previously shown to possess various pharmacological effects. However, its effects on hBMSCs of PMOP patients are unknown. The aim of this present research was to investigate the impact and underlying process of aucubin on cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation in hBMSCs isolated from PMOP patients. The ability of aucubin to inhibit the ferroptosis induced by erastin in hBMSCs was detected; ROS production, ferrous ion levels, SOD, MDA, and GPX activities were tested by using commercial kits. Next, ALP staining, ARS staining, RT-qPCR, RNA-sequencing, and Western blot were applied for determining the mRNA and protein expression levels associated with the osteogenesis of hBMSCs. The study also explored the involvement of BMP2/Smads signalling in aucubin promoting the osteogenesis of hBMSCs and evaluated the effects of aucubin intervention on osteoporosis using an ovariectomised rat model. The results indicated that aucubin significantly inhibited ROS generation and oxidative stress induced by erastin and protected against ferroptosis in hBMSCs. Additionally, aucubin facilitated osteogenic differentiation of hBMSCs by activating the BMP2/SMADs pathway and attenuated the progression of osteoporosis in OVX rats, suggesting a potential therapeutic benefit for postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP).