Icaritin, an exogenous phytomolecule, enhances osteogenesis but not angiogenesis--an in vitro efficacy study.

Dong Yao, Xin-Hui Xie, Xin-Luan Wang, Chao Wan, Yuk-Wai Lee, Shi-Hui Chen, Duan-Qing Pei, Yi-Xiang Wang, Gang Li, Ling Qin

Index: PLoS ONE 7 , e41264, (2012)

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Abstract

We found that Icaritin, an intestinal metabolite of Epimedium-derived flavonoids (EF) enhanced osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) only under osteogenic induction conditions. We also demonstrated its effect on inhibition of adipogenic differentiation of MSCs. Unlike the findings of others on EF compounds, we showed that Icaritin was unable to promote proliferation, migration and tube like structure formation by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. These results suggested that the exogenous phytomolecule Icaritin possessed the potential for enhancing bone formation via its osteopromotive but not an osteoinductive mechanism. Though some flavonoids were shown to regulate the coupling process of angiogenesis and osteogenesis during bone repair, our results suggested that Icaritin did not have direct effect on enhancing angiogenesis in vitro.