The Mixture of Centella Asiatica Extract and Portulaca Oleracea Extract Promotes Longitudinal Bone Growth in Adolescent Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

Hyun Sook Lee¹, Jae In Jung², Seungtae Lim³, YoungSun Jang⁴ and Eun Ji Kim^{2, 3,}

¹Department of Food & Nutrition, Dongseo University, Busan, Korea

²Industry Coupled Cooperation Center for Bio Healthcare Materials, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea

³Research Institute, SRE Service Co., Ltd., Chuncheon, Korea

⁴Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea

Cite this paper:
Hyun Sook Lee, Jae In Jung, Seungtae Lim, YoungSun Jang and Eun Ji Kim. The Mixture of Centella Asiatica Extract and Portulaca Oleracea Extract Promotes Longitudinal Bone Growth in Adolescent Male Sprague-Dawley Rats. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2025; 13(7):232-239. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-13-7-1

Abstract

FSG-CA is a mixture of Centella asiatica extract and Portulaca oleracea extract. In previous in vitro studies, FSG-CA was shown to enhance osteoblastic activity. In this study, we investigated the effect of FSG-CA on longitudinal bone growth in vivo. Male adolescent SD rats were divided into four groups and administered FSG-CA (50 or 100 mg/kg BW/day), recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH, positive control), or vehicle (control) for 5 weeks. Longitudinal bone growth rate was measured using tetracycline labeling. Growth plate (GP) height was measured using hematoxylin and eosin staining. Serum GH, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, and IGF-binding protein (IGFBP)-3 concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In the liver, mRNA expression of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 was analyzed by RT-PCR. IGF-1 and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 in the tibial GP were analyzed by immunofluorescence staining. Oral administration of FSG-CA significantly increased endochondral bone formation and proliferation and tibial GP height. FSG-CA increased IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 mRNA expression in the liver and increased IGF-1 concentration in serum. FSG-CA also upregulated IGF-1 and BMP-2 expression in the tibial GP. These results suggest that FSG-CA may help increase longitudinal bone growth during puberty by utilizing the GH - IGF-1 pathway.

Keywords:
Centella asiatica Portulaca oleracea longitudinal bone growth growth plate IGF-1

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