Steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (steroid-induced ONFH) is an avascular necrosis disease of bone. Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP), with significant vascular protective properties, has been widely used for the treatments of ischemic neural disorders and cardiovascular diseases. However, its role in the treatment of steroid-induced ONFH has not been evaluated. In this study, our result...

Long‑term administration of glucocorticoid hormones is considered one of predominant pathological factors inducing osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) development and progression, in which reduction of blood supply leads to a progressive bone loss and impairment of bone structure in the majority of cases. In a non‑hematopoietic system, erythropoietin (EPO) can stimulate angiogenesis and bo...

Our study investigated the association between MMP-3 and MMP-8 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and alcohol-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) in 695 Chinese males (299 cases and 396 control subjects). The minor allele of MMP-3 rs650108 was associated with a 0.78-fold decrease in alcohol-induced ONFH risk in the allelic model (95% CI = 0.63-0.97, P = 0.026). In the genetic m...

BACKGROUND VEGF plays an important role in bone formation and repair. However, the effects of VEGF -634G/C polymorphisms on the pathogenesis of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) were not conclusive. Our research was aimed to further analyze the association of VEGF -634G/C polymorphism with ONFH risk. METHODS The relevant articles were searched in PubMed, Elsevier, EMBASE, Web of Scienc...

Although corticosteroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is common, the treatment for it remains limited and largely ineffective. We examined whether implantation of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) transgenic bone marrow cells (BMCs) can promote the repair of the necrotic area of corticosteroid-induced ONFH. In this study, we confirmed that HIF-1α gene transfection could en...

Elevated adipogenesis of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) is closely associated with non-traumatic osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH). Our previous studies have shown that Huogu (HG) formula was effective both in clinic experience and experimental ONFH. How HG impacts the differentiation of BMSCs and what is the underlying molecular mechanism remain largely unknown. Our results showed that e...

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) plays a role in steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH), but the underlying mechanism remains unknown. We hypothesized that P-gp overexpression can prevent ONFH by regulating bone marrow-derived multipotent stromal cell (BMSC) adipogenesis and osteogenesis. BMSCs from Sprague-Dawley rats were transfected with green fluorescent protein (GFP) or the multidru...

Epidemiologic studies have shown alcohol plays a pivotal role in the development of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). The aim of this study was to explore the underlying mechanism of alcohol-induced ONFH and the protective effect of pifithrin-α (PFTα). In vitro, we found ethanol treatment significantly activated p53, suppressed Wnt/β-catenin signaling and inhibited osteogenic-related pr...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to investigate personality traits, psychological distress and functional disability in patients with non-traumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). METHODS Sixty-seven patients participated in the study, 48 males and 19 females. The mean age was 37.6 years (SD: 10.92, range: 15 - 61). Seventy-five healthy individuals, age and sex matched, s...