REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1623990
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements in Pharmacological Treatments for Bone Metabolic DiseasesView all 4 articles
Pharmacological mechanism of natural products to treat osteoporosis: A focus on the autophagy
Provisionally accepted
Cheng Long Xin
Guangheng Zhang
Zheng ShenWeibiao HanRuifeng FanJiakuo RenJianyi Zhang
Yan-Ke Hao*Jian Xin*- Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Osteoporosis (OP) is a serious public health issue, and fragility fractures resulting from OP are a major cause of death in the elderly. Osteoblast (OB)-mediated insufficient bone formation and osteoclast (OCs)mediated abnormalities in bone destruction can result in OP. Autophagy is the process by which cells degrade and recycle their own proteins and organelles. The differentiation and activity of OBs, OCs, and other bone cells depend on autophagy activity. The regulation of autophagy has the potential to influence the metabolic processes of these cells, which may contribute to the treatment of OP. This paper provided a comprehensive review of the experimental and clinical evidence supporting the use of natural products as potential therapeutic agents for OP. We examined the diverse regulatory effects of natural products on bone cells, including bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, OBs, and OCs. Additionally, we explore the potential of these natural products to mediate autophagy, a process that may offer novel drug options and provide guidance for future clinical trials.
Keywords: Natural Products, Osteoporosis, Autophagy, osteoclast, osteoblast
Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xin, Zhang, Shen, Han, Fan, Ren, Zhang, Hao and Xin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yan-Ke Hao, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
Jian Xin, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.