Abstract
Osteoporosis is a common skeletal disorder in humans and gelatin hydrolysates from mammals have been reported to improve osteoporosis. In this study, 13-month-old mice were used to evaluate the effects of collagen hydrolysates (CHs) from silver carp skin on osteoporosis. No significant differences were observed in mice body weight, spleen or thymus indices after daily intake of antioxidant collagen hydrolysates (ACH; 200 mg/kg body weight (bw) (LACH), 400 mg/kg bw (MACH), 800 mg/kg bw (HACH)), collagenase hydrolyzed collagen hydrolysates (CCH) or proline (400 mg/kg body weight) for eight weeks, respectively. ACH tended to improve bone mineral density, increase bone hydroxyproline content, enhance alkaline phosphatase (ALP) level and reduce tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRAP-5b) activity in serum, with significant differences observed between the MACH and model groups (p < 0.05). ACH exerted a better effect on osteoporosis than CCH at the identical dose, whereas proline had no significant effect on repairing osteoporosis compared to the model group. Western blotting results demonstrated that CHs mainly increased bone remodeling by stimulating the transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1)/Smad signaling pathway and improving the interaction between collagen and α2β1 integrin. The results indicated that CHs from fish could be applied to alleviate osteoporosis or treat bone loss.