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Introduction
As one of the most common types of chronic disorder in aged people, osteoporosis has a multifactorial etiology and has been characterized by progressive bone substance loss, microarchitecture impairments and an increased risk of fractures (1,2). In addition to the systemic symptoms, patients with osteoporosis also suffer from the dental diseases periodontitis and dentition defect, which usually cause bone mass insufficiency (3,4). Due to impaired alveolar bone structure and metabolic disturbances, it is accordingly difficult to treat these patients. A great deal of effort has been made to alleviate this situation, yet few treatment technologies are applied widely. In current clinical practice, most dentists prefer to select drugs as facilitators (5). Osteoblasts usually originate from mesenchymal stem cells and are of importance during the bone formation process (6). Osteoblasts often behave abnormally in bone metabolism disorders. Therefore, numerous drugs for osteoporosis treatment are targeted at regulating osteoblast function.
Osteoblasts express several types of calcium channels. Of these channels, the L-type voltage-sensitive channel is the one most clearly involved in functional osteoblast regulation. A previous study has demonstrated that calcium channels are associated with proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation in osteoblasts (7). As a large number of patients who suffer from bone metabolism disorders also require hypertension treatment, the identification an appropriate antihypertensive drug that is able to also treat bone disorders would be of great significance. If a drug stimulates osteoblast function while performing an antihypertensive effect, it is likely to present a great benefit for elderly patients and doctors.
Benidipine (BD) is a dihydropyridine-type calcium channel blocker and has been widely used for hypertension therapy. It blocks the L-type and T-type calcium channels in different types of cells, including osteoblasts (8). Due to the dual effects of BD on hypertension and calcium channels, it is hypothesized to be a suitable candidate for the treatment of patients with osteoporosis and hypertension. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of BD at different concentrations on osteoblasts in vitro.
Materials and methods
Medicine preparation
A solution of BD (Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) was prepared by dissolving solid BD in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) solvent. The stock solution was stored at −20°C.
Cell culture
MC3T3-E1 cells (American Type Culture Collection, Manassas,...