Osteogenic effects of antihypertensive drug benidipine on mouse MC3T3-E1 cells in vitro

Hypertension is a prevalent systemic disease in the elderly, who can suffer from several pathological skeletal conditions simultaneously, including osteoporosis. Benidipine(BD), which is widely used to treat hypertension, has been proved to have a beneficial effect on bone metabolism. In order to confirm the osteogenic effects of BD, we investigated its osteogenic function using mouse MC3 T3-E1 preosteoblast cells in vitro. The proliferative ability of MC3 T3-E1 cells was significantly associated with the concentration of BD, as measured by methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide(MTT)assay and cell cycle assay. With BD treatment, the osteogenic differentiation and maturation of MC3 T3-E1 cells were increased,as established by the alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activity test, matrix mineralized nodules formation, osteogenic genetic test,and protein expression analyses. Moreover, our data showed that the BMP2/Smad pathway could be the partial mechanism for the promotion of osteogenesis by BD, while BD might suppress the possible function of osteoclasts through the OPG/RANKL/RANK(receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB)) pathway. The hypothesis that BD bears a considerable potential in further research on its dual therapeutic effect on hypertensive patients with poor skeletal conditions was proved within the limitations of the present study.