After screening extensively factors in plant extracts that increase alkaline phosphatase activity, an osteoblastic differentiation marker protein in mouse calvarial osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells, GnafC derived from Gnaphalium affine, was found to significantly enhance the alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) activity in a synergistic manner with ascorbate. GnafC was a polysaccharaide with an approximate m...

Research in the area of vascular calcification has grown rapidly in the past decade, and there is a greater understanding of its active regulatory mechanisms. This brief review covers the ideas presented in the 2003 Jeffrey M. Hoeg Award lecture, including the concepts that bone tissue forms in the artery wall in patients with atherosclerosis, that vascular cells undergo osteoblastic differenti...

Prostate cancer frequently metastasizes to bone resulting in the formation of osteoblastic metastases through unknown mechanisms. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been shown recently to promote osteoblast activity. Accordingly, we tested if VEGF contributes to the ability of prostate cancer to induce osteoblast activity. PC-3, LNCaP, and C4-2B prostate cancer cell lines expressed b...

Puerarin, a major active isoflavone extracted from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Radix Puerariae, has been studied for its comprehensive biological effects. However, to date, its effect on bone formation and the underlying mechanism of action have not been well investigated. The present study investigated the effect of puerarin on cell proliferation and osteoblastic maturation in cultured hu...

STUDY DESIGN An in vitro study examining factors produced by human mesenchymal stem cells on spine implant materials. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine whether the inflammatory microenvironment generated by cells on titanium-aluminum-vanadium (Ti-alloy, TiAlV) surfaces is affected by surface microtexture and whether it differs from that generated on poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK)...

BACKGROUND Arterial calcification is an important pathological change of diabetic vascular complication. Osteoblastic differentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays an important cytopathologic role in arterial calcification. The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA), a novel type of antidiabetic drugs, exert cardioprotective effects through the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1...

Many studies have now demonstrated that osteoblasts express the protein components necessary for functional neuronal-like glutamatergic signalling to occur, and as a result a physiological role for receptor mediated osteoblastic glutamate signalling has been proposed. Osteoblastic ionotropic type glutamate receptors (iGluRs) have been shown to be functional; they possess electrophysiological ch...

In the present study, we investigate the implication of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) Erk, p38, and JNK in mediating the effect of fetal calf serum (FCS) on the differentiation of MC3T3-E1 osteoblast-like cells. Erk is stimulated by FCS in proliferating, early-differentiating, as well as in mature cells. Activation of p38 by FCS is not detected in proliferating cells but is obse...

OBJECTIVE Mechanism of zoledronic acid on osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has not fully understood. With the knowledge of some drugs mechanism that alter methylation pattern of some genes, the present research sets out to evaluate osterix (OSX) promoter methylation pattern during zoledronic acid-induced osteoblastic differentiation of MSCs. MATERIALS AND METHODS ...

Research in the area of vascular calcification has grown rapidly in the past decade, and there is a greater understanding of its active regulatory mechanisms. This brief review covers the ideas presented in the 2003 Jeffrey M. Hoeg Award lecture, including the concepts that bone tissue forms in the artery wall in patients with atherosclerosis, that vascular cells undergo osteoblastic differenti...