Astragalus Extract Mixture HT042 Improves Bone Growth, Mass, and Microarchitecture in Prepubertal Female Rats: A Microcomputed Tomographic Study

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, May 2017

Astragalus extract mixture HT042 is a standardized multiherbal mixture comprising Astragalus membranaceus, Eleutherococcus senticosus, and Phlomis umbrosa, which has proven to promote children’s height growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of HT042 on longitudinal bone growth, bone mass, and bone microstructure in growing rats using a high-resolution microcomputed tomography system. Four-week-old female rats were fed an HT042-containing diet for 2 weeks. Tibial length was measured at baseline and weekly in vivo. At the end of the study, volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and microarchitectural parameters were estimated in the trabecular and cortical bone of the tibia. Tibial length gain was significantly increased by HT042 compared to that reported with the control diet. In the proximal tibial metaphysis, HT042-treated rats had significantly higher trabecular vBMD, bone volume fraction, and trabecular number and lower trabecular separation, trabecular pattern factor, and structure model index values than control rats did. Total cross-sectional area and bone area of the cortical bone in the tibial diaphysis also increased. These findings suggest that HT042 increases longitudinal bone growth rate, improves trabecular bone mass, and enhances the microarchitecture of trabecular and cortical bone during growth.

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Astragalus Extract Mixture HT042 Improves Bone Growth, Mass, and Microarchitecture in Prepubertal Female Rats: A Microcomputed Tomographic Study

Astragalus Extract Mixture HT042 Improves Bone Growth, Mass, and Microarchitecture in Prepubertal Female Rats: A Microcomputed Tomographic Study Jungbin Song,1 Sung Hyun Lee,2 Donghun Lee,1 and Hocheol Kim1 1Department of Herbal Pharmacology, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea 2Korea Institute of Science and Technology for Eastern Medicine (KISTEM), NeuMed Inc., 88 Imun-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02440, Republic of Korea Correspondence should be addressed to Hocheol Kim; rk.ca.uhk@mikch Received 13 March 2017; Accepted 13 April 2017; Published 10 May 2017 Academic Editor: Ki-Wan Oh Copyright © 2017 Jungbin Song et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Astragalus extract mixture HT042 is a standardized multiherbal mixture comprising Astragalus membranaceus, Eleutherococcus senticosus, and Phlomis umbrosa, which has proven to promote children’s height growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of HT042 on longitudinal bone growth, bone mass, and bone microstructure in growing rats using a high-resolution microcomputed tomography system. Four-week-old female rats were fed an HT042-containing diet for 2 weeks. Tibial length was measured at baseline and weekly in vivo. At the end of the study, volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and microarchitectural parameters were estimated in the trabecular and cortical bone of the tibia. Tibial length gain was significantly increased by HT042 compared to that reported with the control diet. In the proximal tibial metaphysis, HT042-treated rats had significantly higher trabecular vBMD, bone volume fraction, and trabecular number and lower trabecular separation, trabecular pattern factor, and structure model index values than control rats did. Total cross-sectional area and bone area of the cortical bone in the tibial diaphysis also increased. These findings suggest that HT042 increases longitudinal bone growth rate, improves trabecular bone mass, and enhances the microarchitecture of trabecular and cortical bone during growth. 1. Introduction One of the main functions of bone is to provide structural support for the body. During childhood, bones grow in size, accrue mass, and change their architecture to develop a strong structure for load bearing [1]. The percentile location of an individual’s bone traits, such as bone mineral density and trabecular and cortical morphology, all of which determine bone strength, is likely established during childhood [2–5]. Therefore, the optimization of bone strength during childhood is important for lifelong bone health. Several studies have demonstrated that short-statured children have impaired bone health. Low bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) at several skeletal sites are reported in short children [6–9]. Short children exhibit increased bone resorption [6] and have impaired bone structure and bone strength [10]. Growth hormone (GH) treatment has been reported to increase height, normalize BMD, and improve bone structure and strength in short children [6, 9, 10]. In addition to well-established effects on growth plate cartilage, GH exerts anabolic effects on bone and stimulates new bone formation, which results in greater bone mass and improved skeletal structure [11, 12]. Astragalus extract mixture HT042 is a standardized multiherbal mixture consisting of Astragalus membranaceus, Eleutherococcus senticosus, and Phlomis umbrosa. HT042 was found to increase height growth rate in children with mild short stature in a 12-week placebo-controlled trial, which was confirmed by another 24-week trial (data not published). HT042 has been shown to induce longitudinal bone growth by stimulation of chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophy in growth plates [13, 14]. The mechanism underlying HT042-induced bone growth involves the stimulation of GH secretion [15], which is assumed to lead to the systemic and local production of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) [13, 14]. This mechanism was also supported by a previous report where A. membranaceus induced GH release [16]. HT042 has been suggested to stimulate GH secretion; therefore, we hypothesized that HT042 increases longitudinal bone growth and simultaneously enhances bone mass and microarchitecture during growth. To address this hypothesis, we adopted a high-resolution microcomputed tomography (μ-CT) system. Four-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a diet that contained HT042 for 2 weeks. This treatment period was chosen because it corresponds with the human childhood period between the approximate ages of five and nine years [17]. The length of the tibia was measured at baseline and then weekly for 2 weeks using in vivo -CT. In comparison with our previous study us (...truncated)


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Jungbin Song, Sung Hyun Lee, Donghun Lee, Hocheol Kim. Astragalus Extract Mixture HT042 Improves Bone Growth, Mass, and Microarchitecture in Prepubertal Female Rats: A Microcomputed Tomographic Study, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2017, 2017, DOI: 10.1155/2017/5219418