| Objective To investigate the effect of puerarin (PR) on steroid induced autophagy and apoptosis of osteoblasts by regulating the silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) - forkhead box transcription factor O1 (FOXO1) signaling pathway. Methods Mouse osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) were treated with 0-50 μmol/L and 10 μmol/L dexamethasone (DEX), and the optimal concentration of PR concentration was selected by MTT method; MC3T3-E1 cells were separated into a control group (without any intervention), a DEX group (10 μmol/L DEX), a PR+DEX group (40 μmol/L PR + 10 μmol/L DEX), a DEX+EX527 group (10 μmol/L DEX+100 nmol/LSIRT1 inhibitor EX527), and a PR+DEX+EX527 group (10 μmol/L DEX+40 μmol/L PR+100 nmol/L EX527), MTT assay, flow cytometry, and MDC assay were applied to determine the proliferation activity, apoptosis rate, and autophagy quantity of cells in each group; Western blot was applied to detect the expression levels of SIRT1-FOXO1 pathway related proteins, autophagy marker proteins Beclin-1, LC3, and apoptotic proteins Bax and Bcl-2. Results PR at 0-40 μmol/L can promote the proliferation activity of MC3T3-E1 cells induced by DEX, after treatment with 40 μmol/L PR, MC3T3-E1 cells showed the highest proliferation activity. 40 μmol/L PR was selected for subsequent experiments. Compared with the control group, the proliferation activity, autophagy positivity rate, SIRT1, FOXO1, Beclin-1, LC3, and Bax protein expression of MC3T3-E1 cells in the DEX group decreased, while the apoptosis rate and expression of Bcl-2 protein increased (P<0.05); compared with the DEX group, the PR+DEX group showed a decrease in apoptosis rate and Bcl-2 protein expression, while all other indicators mentioned above increased (P<0.05); compared with the PR+DEX group, the PR+DEX+EX527 group showed an increase in apoptosis rate and Bcl-2 protein expression, while all other indicators mentioned above decreased (P<0.05), the DEX+EX527 group showed an increase in apoptosis rate and Bcl-2 protein expression, while all other indicators mentioned above decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion PR can enhance autophagy in MC3T3-E1 cells and inhibit DEX induced apoptosis by activating the SIRT1-FOXO1 signaling pathway. |