• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2016

Rap1 is a key regulator of cell adhesion and migration. Although increasing evidence indicates that the Rap1 signaling pathway is involved in the process of bone remodeling, the mechanism by which Rap1 regulates osteoblastic differentiation and cell adhesion remains unknown. Here, we investigated the morphological characteristics and osteoblastic differentiation of cells expressing constitutively activated form of Rap1A (Rap1ACA) or Rap1 GTPase activating protein Rap1GAP and found that activated Rap1 induces osteoblastic differentiation and cell adhesion as well as cell spreading. When osteoblastic differentiation was induced, Rap1ACA cells showed considerably higher levels of calcium deposits than the wild-type and Rap1GAP-overexpressing cells did. Rap1ACA cells showed increased spreading and size, as well as strong cell adhesion and significantly decreased growth rates. F-actin staining using phalloidin revealed several thin thread-like filopodia around the protrusions in Rap1ACA cells, which possibly contribute to the increased cell adhesion.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2008

Aim of the study: Thermal stress is a central determinant of osseous surgical outcomes. Interestingly, the temperatures measured during endosseous surgeries coincide with the temperatures that elicit the heat shock response of mammalian cells. The heat shock response is a coordinated biochemical response that helps to protect cells from stresses of various forms. Several protective proteins, termed heat shock proteins (hsp) are produced as part of this response. To begin to understand the role of the stress response of osteoblasts during surgical manipulation of bone, the heat shock protein response was evaluated in osteoblastic cells. Materials & methods: With primary cell culture studies and ROS 17/2.8 osteoblastic cells transfected with hsp27 encoding vectors culture studies, the thermal stress response of mammalian osteoblastic cells was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis. Results: Immunocytochemistry indicated that hsp27 was present in unstressed osteoblastic cells, but not fibroblastic cells. Primarily cultured osteoblasts and fibroblasts expressed the major hsp in response to thermal stress, however, the small Mr hsp, hsp27 was shown to be a constitutive product only in osteoblasts. Creation of stable transformed osteoblastic cells expressing abundant hsp27 protein was used to demonstrate that hsp27 confers stress resistance to osteoblastic cells. Conclusions: The demonstrable presence and function of hsp27 in cultured bones and cells implicates this protein as a determinant of osteoblastic cell fate in vivo.

• Food Quality and Culture
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.85-88
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• 2008

We have investigated the effects of cottonseed extract on the proliferation, differentiation and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced production of local factors in murine clonal osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Ethanol extract of cotton seed ($4{\sim}63{\mu}g/mL$) significantly increased the proliferatin of MC3T3-E1 cells (p<0.05). Moreover, cottonseed extract ($10{\sim}50{\mu}g/mL$) caused a significant elevation of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and collagen content in the cells. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a potent stimulator of bone resorption in inflammatory diseases. We examined the effect of cottonseed extract on the LPS-induced production of tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-$\alpha$) and nitric oxide (NO) in MC3T3-E1 cells. Treatment with cottonseed extract ($10{\sim}50{\mu}g/mL$) decreased the $5{\mu}g/mL$ LPS-induced production of TNF-$\alpha$ and NO in osteoblasts, suggesting that the antiresorptive action of cottonseed extract may be mediated by decrease in these local factors. This study suggests that cottenseed may contribute to antiresorptive action against osteoblastic cells, resulting in a beneficial effect in promoting the function of osteoblastic cells.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.447-453
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• 2013

Osteoblastic activity of nectandrin A was examined in C2C12 cells. Nectandrin A enhances the BMP-induced osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization, manifested by the up-regulation of differentiation markers (alkaline phosphatase and osteogenic genes) and increased calcium contents. In C2C12 cells co-transfected with expression vector encoding Smad4 and Id1-Luc reporter, nectandrin A increased Id1 luciferase activity in a concentration-dependent manner, when compared to that in BMP-2 treated cells, indicating that Smad signaling pathway is associated with nectandrin A-enhanced osteoblastic differentiation in C2C12 cells. In addition, nectandrin A activated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in time- and concentration-dependent manners, and phosphorylated form of pSmad1/5/8 and alkaline phosphatase activity were both decreased when the cells were pretreated with SB203580, a p38 MAPK inhibitor, suggesting that p38 MAPK might be an upstream kinase for Smad signaling pathway. Taken together, nectandrin A enhances the BMP-induced osteoblastic differentiation and mineralization of C2C12 cells via activation of p38 MAPK-Smad signaling pathway, and it has a therapeutic potential for osteoporosis by promoting bone formation.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.145-151
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• 2014

During bone remodeling, there is requirement of differentiation of osteoblastic cells. Previously, we identified proteins differentially expressed in soft tissue during bone healing. Of these proteins, we focused the effect of LTF on differentiation of osteoblast. In order to analyze the osteogenic ability of LTF, we treated conditioned media collected from human LTF-stably transfected HEK293T cells into osteoblastic MC3T3-E1. The results showed that the activity and expression of alkaline phosphatase were increased in MC3T3-E1 cells treated with conditioned media containing LTF in dose- and time-dependent manner. At the same time, we observed the significant increase of the expression of osteoblastic genes, such as ALP, BSP, COL1A1, and OCN, and along with matrix mineralization genes, such as DMP1 and DMP2, in LTF conditioned media-treated groups. Moreover, the result of treating recombinant human LTF directly into osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 showed the same pattern of treating conditioned media containing LTF. Our study demonstrated that LTF constitutively enhances osteoblastic differentiation via induction of osteoblastic genes and activation of matrix mineralization in MC3T3-E1 cells.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.316-322
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• 2018

Purpose: The Glycyrrhiza uralensis species (Leguminosae) as a medicinal biocompound, and one of its root components, isoliquritigenin (ISL), which is a flavonoid, has been reported to have anti-tumor activity in vitro and in vivo. However, its function in bone formation has not been studied yet. In this study, we tested the effect of Glycyrrhiza uralensis (ErLR) and baked Glycyrrhiza uralensis (EdLR) extracts on osteoblast proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and bone-related gene expression in osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells. Methods: MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured in various levels of ErLR (0, 5, 10, 15, $20{\mu}g/mL$), EdLR (0, 5, 10, 15, $20{\mu}g/mL$), or ISL (0, 5, 10, 15, $20{\mu}M$) in time sequences (1, 5, and 20 days). Also, isoliquritigenin (ISL) was tested for comparison to those two biocompound extracts. Results: MTT assay results showed that all three compounds (ErLR, EdLR, and ISL) increased osteoblastic-cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner for one day. In addition, both ErLR and EdLR compounds elevated the osteoblast proliferation for 5 or 20 days. Extracellular ALP activity was also increased as ErLR, EdLR, and ISL concentration increased at 20 days, which implies the positive effect of Glycyrrhiza species on osteoblast mineralization. The bone-related marker mRNAs were upregulated in the ErLR-treated osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells for 20 days. Bone-specific transcription factor Runx2 gene expression was also elevated in the ErLR- and EdLR-treated osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells for 20 days. Conclusion: These results demonstrated that Glycyrrhiza uralensis extracts may be useful for preventing osteoporosis by increasing cell proliferation, ALP activity, and bone-marker gene expression in osteoblastic cells.

• International journal of thyroidology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-76
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• 2017

Background and Objectives: The role of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) signaling on osteoblastic differentiation is still undetermined. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-azacytidine) on TSH-mediated regulations of osteoblasts. Materials and Methods: MG63, a human osteoblastic cell-line, was treated with 5-azacytidine before inducing osteogenic differentiation using osteogenic medium (OM) containing L-ascorbic acid and ${\beta}$-glyceophosphate. Bovine TSH or monoclonal TSH receptor stimulating antibody (TSAb) was treated. Quantitative real-time PCR analyses or measurement of alkaline phosphatase activities were performed for evaluating osteoblastic differentiation. Results: Studies for osteogenic-related genes or alkaline phosphatase activity demonstrated that treatment of TSH or TSAb alone had no effects on osteoblastic differentiation in MG63 cells. However, treatment of 5-azacytidine, per se, significantly increased osteoblastic differentiation and combination treatment of 5-azacytidine and TSH or TSAb in the condition of OM showed further significant increase of osteoblastic differentiation. Conclusion: Stimulating TSH signaling has little effects on osteoblastic differentiation in vitro. However, in the condition of epigenetic modification using inhibitor of DNA methylation, TSH signaling positively affects osteoblastic differentiation in human osteoblasts.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.269-274
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• 2002

A large number of factors such as osteotropic hormones, cytokines, or growth factors are related to the bone remodeling which is characterized by the coupling of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption and osteoblast-mediated bone formation. Recent investigations have indicated that cytokines such as $interleukin-1{\beta}\;(IL-1{\beta})$ and tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}\;(TNF-{\alpha})$ play a potential role in the bone resorption associated with a variety of pathological conditions such as inflammatory osteolytic disease. Collagen is the most abundant protein of the extracellular matrix of bone, and the participation of collagenase in bone resorption has been widely investigated. In this study, effects of $IL-1{\beta}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ on the release of collagenase from osteoblastic cells were measured. The gelatinase activity was also measured by gel substrate analysis (zymography) after electrophoresis of conditioned media of osteoblastic cell culture. $IL-1{\beta}$ increased the collagenase activity in ROS17/2.8 and HOS cell culture. $TNF-{\alpha}$ also increased the collagenase activity of osteoblastic cells. When two kinds of cytokines were treated simultaneously in the culture of osteoblastic cells, synergistic increase of collagenase activity was seen in ROS17/2.8 cells. $IL-1{\beta}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ significantly increased the collagenase activity after 6 hour treatment in the osteoblastic cell culture, and there was no additional increase according to the culture period. Osteoblastic cells released the gelatinase and molecular weight of this enzyme was measured about 70 KDa as assessed by zymogram. $IL-1{\beta}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ showed increase of the gelatinase activity produced by ROS17/2.8 and HOS cells. Taken together, this study suggested that $IL-1{\beta}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}$ can modulate bone metabolism, at least in part, by increased release of collagenase and gelatinase from osteoblasts.

• BMB Reports
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• v.48 no.10
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• pp.583-588
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• 2015

Microtubule actin crosslinking factor 1 (MACF1), a widely expressed cytoskeletal linker, plays important roles in various cells by regulating cytoskeleton dynamics. However, its role in osteoblastic cells is not well understood. Based on our previous findings that the association of MACF1 with F-actin and microtubules in osteoblast-like cells was altered under magnetic force conditions, here, by adopting a stable MACF1-knockdown MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cell line, we found that MACF1 knockdown induced large cells with a binuclear/multinuclear structure. Further, immunofluorescence staining showed disorganization of F-actin and microtubules in MACF1-knockdown cells. Cell counting revealed significant decrease of cell proliferation and cell cycle analysis showed an S phase cell cycle arrest in MACF1-knockdown cells. Moreover and interestingly, MACF1 knockdown showed a potential effect on cellular MTT reduction activity and mitochondrial content, suggesting an impact on cellular metabolic activity. These results together indicate an important role of MACF1 in regulating osteoblastic cell morphology and function.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.929-933
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• 2010

A new compound, 4-methoxyl 5-hydroxymethyl benzoic 3-O-$\beta$-D-glucopyranoside (1), has been isolated from the leaves and stems of Acer mandshuricum, along with nine known compounds (2-10). Their structures were determined by a variety of spectroscopic analyses. The effect of compounds 1-10 on the function of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells was examined by determining alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, collagen synthesis, and mineralization. Compound 1 significantly increased the function of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells; $5.0\;{\mu}M$ of 1 increased ALP activity, collagen synthesis, and mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells to 114.7, 119.5, and 108.2% (P < 0.05) of the basal value, respectively. In addition, compounds 2-10 also potently increased the function of osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells.