Beneficial effects of β-Ecdysone on the joint, epiphyseal cartilage tissue and trabecular bone in ovariectomized rats
Abstract
Ecdysteroids are steroids found in invertebrates and plants. In mammals they have protein anabolic effects. We have recently published antiosteoporotic effects of Tinospora cordifolia (TC) extract and the search for the possible active ingredients yielded the presence of beta-Ecdysone (Ecd). Therefore, we investigated the effects of pure Ecd in ovariectomized rats on morphological changes in joint, epiphyseal cartilage and trabecular tissue. Following ovariectomy rats were fed for 1 month with Ecd containing food at a dose of 52.8 mg/day/animal. Positive and negative control animals received 17-beta Estradiol (E(2), 132 microg/day/animal) and soy free (sf) food respectively. At sacrifice, specimens consisting of upper tibiae-lower femurs and knee joint were harvested and processed for histomorphometry. The parameters measured included thickness of the joint cartilage, thickness of the whole epiphyseal growth plate and its three zones. Furthermore, the percentage of trabecular bone in the metaphysis region of tibiae was quantified. Ecd and E(2) induced a significant increase in the thickness of joint cartilage. The whole epiphyseal growth plate and its proliferative and hypertrophic zones were also increased by Ecd whereas E(2) reduced their size. The percentage of trabecular area in the metaphysis of tibia was significantly increased in Ecd and E(2) treated animals. Results provide a plausible explanation for the antiosteoporotic effects of TC. Hence, TC as well as other Ecd producing plants or pure Ecd may be of value in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis which is of increasing importance due to aging and obesity among individuals.
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The joint, epiphyseal cartilage, and trabecular bone were improved by ecdysterone in ovariectomized rats.
“The joint, the epiphyseal cartilage, and the trabecular bone were also improved by ecdysterone in ovariectomized (OVX) rats [29].”
From Molecular Targets of 20-Hydroxyecdysone in Mammals, Mechanism of Action: Is It a Calorie Restriction Mimetic and Anti-Aging Compound? (2025) · cites this paper as [29]
Ecdysterone does not appear to possess any severe side effects.
“Furthermore, ecdysterone does not appear to possess any severe side effects [19,47,49,50,51,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101].”
From Ecdysterone and Turkesterone—Compounds with Prominent Potential in Sport and Healthy Nutrition (2024) · cites this paper as [51]
In ovariectomized rats, pure Ecd supplementation increases joint cartilage thickness and has beneficial bone effects.
“In ovariectomized rats, pure Ecd supplementation significantly increased in the thickness of joint cartilage and presented beneficial effects in bones.”
From Arthropod steroid hormone (20-Hydroxyecdysone) suppresses IL-1β- induced catabolic gene expression in cartilage (2015) · cites this paper as [13]
Phytoecdysteroids have shown a wide range of therapeutic effects in mammals, including anabolic, performance enhancing, anti-osteoporotic and wound healing properties.
“Phytoecdysteroids have also shown a wide range of therapeutic effects in mammals, including anabolic, performance enhancing (Gorelick-Feldman, MacLean, Ilic, Poulev, Lila, Cheng, & Raskin, 2008; Slama & Lafont, 1995), anti-osteoporotic (Kapur, Wuttke, Jarry, & Seidlova-Wuttke, 2010; Seidlova-Wuttke, Christel, Kapur, Nguyen, Jarry, & Wuttke, 2010) and wound healing properties (Syrov & Khushbaktova,”
From Quinoa seeds leach phytoecdysteroids and other compounds with anti-diabetic properties (2014) · cites this paper as Kapur et al., 2010
Beta-ecdysone is reported to increase growth plate width in estrogen deficient rats and to have a marginal beneficial effect on trabecular bone and cartilage preserving following ovariectomy.
“βEcd is reported to increase the growth plate width in estrogen deficient rats and to have a marginal beneficial effect on trabecular bone and cartilage preserving following ovariectomy (OVX) [31, 32].”
From Prevention of glucocorticoid induced bone changes with beta-ecdysone (2015) · cites this paper as [31]
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“The joint, the epiphyseal cartilage, and the trabecular bone were also improved by ecdysterone in ovariectomized (OVX) rats [29].”
- Authors
- Kapur, P., Wuttke, W., Jarry, H., & Seidlova-Wuttke, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Göttingen (DE)
- Venue
- Phytomedicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-04
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 350-355
- ISSN
- 0944-7113 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2007068244
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 4.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Phytomedicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- GRO (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Medicinal Plant Pharmacodynamics Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Bone health and osteoporosis research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bone Metabolism and Diseases
- Keywords
- 20-hydroxyecdysone, ecdysteroids, Tinospora cordifolia, osteoporosis, anti-osteoporotic effect, ovariectomy, estrogen deficiency, growth plate, trabecular bone, bone histomorphometry, osteoarthritis, phytoestrogens
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Bone and Bones, Diet, Drug Therapy, Combination, Ecdysterone, Estradiol, Female, Femur, Growth Plate, Knee Joint, Phytotherapy, Osteoporosis, Ovariectomy, Plant Extracts, Tibia, Bone Density, Rats, Wistar, Osteoarthritis, Knee, Tinospora, Soy Foods, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Rats
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