Anti-osteoporosis from medicinal plants in some northern provinces of Vietnam

05/01/2023

Considered a "silent killer", osteoporosis is a disease that causes many serious consequences affecting the quality of life of patients. Osteoporosis is the result of a disorder of bone metabolism that leads to loss of bone minerals, deterioration of bone structure, and an increased risk of fractures. The study and application of in vitro anti-osteoporotic activity testing methods to the screening of plant species will make an important contribution in opening a new direction in the search for and development of drugs with high activity and highly efficiency from traditional Vietnamese medicinal herbs. With the aim of discovering compounds with anti-osteoporotic activity, creating a basis for the development of products with high anti-osteoporosis efficacy, Dr. Nguyen Hai Dang and a research team from the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) conducted the project: "Research to find compounds with anti-osteoporosis activity from plant resources in some northern provinces of Vietnam”, code KHCBHH.02/19-21. The subject is rated Excellent.

Osteoporosis is a metabolic disorder of bones

Vietnam is a country with rich plant resources and a long history of traditional medicine using herbs. Northern Vietnam is a place with a suitable climate for many types of medicinal plants to grow and develop. The search for active ingredients from Vietnamese plant sources has made certain progress. However, because the construction of a trial model of anti-osteoporosis activity is still very limited in our country, the assessment of the applicability of Vietnamese medicinal herbs in this activity has not achieved the desired results.

Recently, Dr. Nguyen Hai Dang and the research team have successfully tested the screening procedure performed on the RAW264.7 cell line, which is differentiated into osteoclasts, so it can meet the needs of mass testing and increase the efficiency of screening. The research team evaluated the anti-osteoplasty activity on RAW264.7 cells of more than 200 plant extracts and 41 compounds isolated from potential plant samples. The results showed that, 74 samples of extracts showed inhibitory effect on osteoclasts induced by RANKL, including compounds from Viburnum lutescens, Mussaenda pubescens and Polycias fruiticosa.

Mussaenda pubescens and Polycias fruiticosa

Viburnum lutescens

The results of the project were published on 05 international articles on the SCIE list and 03 prestigious domestic articles, registered 01 patent and supported training 01 master in chemistry.

Dr. Nguyen Hai Dang said that the experimental results of the research team clearly showed the great potential of the northern Vietnamese plant samples. From 235 samples tested, up to 74 samples (over 30%) had inhibitory effects on osteoclasts. This is a very high detection rate, showing the potential to exploit anti-osteoporotic compounds from this medicinal source. The research team hopes to continue to be supported to exploit, evaluate the chemistry and anti-osteoporosis activity of the remaining samples (only 3/74 active samples have been selected for evaluation. In addition, the deep mechanism of action of compounds such as MP3, VL1, VL2, experiments on experimental animals is also proposed to be conducted to create a premise for the development of future anti-osteoporosis drugs.

Translated by Phuong Huyen
Link to Vietnamese version

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