Quercetin improves high‐fat diet induced bone loss in obesity‐prone mice

Abstract

Background and ObjectivesWhen fed a high‐fat diet (HFD), the C57/BL6 mice tend to have two different obesity phenotypes: diet‐induced obesity (DIO) and obesity resistance (DR). The present study was to investigate effects of quercetin on bone quality of obesity prone mice and obesity induced by high‐fat diet and role of quercetin played in losing weight.Methods50 3w old C57BL/6 male mice, randomly divided into groups: C group (normal diet, n=10), HFD group (HFD, n=40). After feeding 10 weeks, HFD group grow into two kinds of weight phenotype: diet‐induced obesity and obesity‐resistant. Then picked out the obesity‐prone group and divided into two groups: 1) DIO(n=10): continue feeding a HFD; 2) DIO‐Q(n=10): adding 0.4% quercetin in HFD. Mice were executed at the end of 17w. Liver D1 level, femoral parameters and oxidative stress biomarkers were examined. Bone formation related gene expression and osteoclast differentiation related gene expression were detected by qPCR.ResultsBody weight of DIO‐Q mice were 12.5% lower than DIO mice. DIO‐Q mice Liver D1 level was significantly higher than DIO mice (P<0.05). Quercetin reduced HFD fed mice’ body weight may by increasing thyroid hormone depending energy consumption. Compared with C group, femoral mineral content (BMC), bone strength, ash content, calcium content in DIO mice were significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). T‐AOC was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05), and MDA were both significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). DIO‐Q group osteoblast‐specific genes col1a1, BMP‐2 were up‐regulated to C group level and osteoclast‐specific gene RANKL/OPG was down‐regulated to C group level (P<0.05). T‐AOC, GSH/GSSG were significantly higher than that of the DIO group (P<0.05). MDA was significantly lower than that of the DIO group (P<0.05). DIO‐Q group femoral mineral content, bone strength, ash content, bone length was significantly higher (P<0.05) than that of the DIO group. Quercetin improved femoral performance parameters in DIO mice may by alleviating femoral oxidative stress and regulating collal, BMP‐2, RANKL/OPG expression.ConclusionHFD can reduce DIO mice bone quality. Quercetin can effectively improve DIO mice bone quality and losing DIO mice body weight.Support or Funding InformationThe study was supported by the 12th Five‐year Plan for Science and Technology Development of China (No. 2012BAD33B05)