Oral Administration of Oyster Peptide Prevents Bone Loss in Ovariectomized Mice

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a disordered metabolic disease occurred congenitally or secondary. Although peptide agents have been approved to prevent osteoporosis administrated through subcutaneous injection, rare reports focused on peptide oral administration for preventive purpose. An eight peptide, P-CG-01 (YRGDVVPK) derived from oyster protein hydrolysates in gastrointestinal tract can promote the proliferation of osteoblast in vitro. In this study, ovariectomized mouse model was used to investigate the osteogenesis activity of P-CG-01. Bone mineral density value was recovered to the level of Sham by treatment of peptide [30 mg/kg body weight (BW)] in the ovariectomized mice. Peptide was detected at an average concentration of 803.16 ng/mL in serum from those mice after gavage. The peptide was labelled with fluorescein isothiocyanate and detected in the cytoplasm of osteoblast by confocal microscopes. ERK2 and BMP-2 expression was increased 1.5- and 3.8-fold, respectively, by the treatment of peptide. Our results suggest that P-CG-01 can inhibit the development of osteoporosis in ovariectomized mice.