REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1683279
This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Ethnopharmacology: 2025View all 44 articles
Natural Bioactive Products in the Regulation of Bone Metabolism and Regeneration
Provisionally accepted
- Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
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Osteoporosis (OP) is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by decreased bone mineral density (BMD), impaired bone microarchitecture, and an elevated risk of fragility fractures. Although conventional pharmacological agents—such as bisphosphonates, selective estrogen receptor modulators, and monoclonal antibodies—can attenuate disease progression, their long-term application is limited by adverse effects and suboptimal patient adherence. Consequently, there is growing interest in the development of safer, multi-targeted therapeutic strategies. Plant-derived bioactive product have garnered increasing attention due to their broad pharmacological profiles, including the promotion of osteoblastogenesis, suppression of osteoclastogenesis, regulation of bone–vascular coupling, and modulation of immune and oxidative stress pathways. Recent advances in biomaterial-assisted delivery systems have further improved the physicochemical stability, bioavailability, and tissue-specific delivery of these phytochemicals, thereby enhancing their therapeutic efficacy in bone regeneration. Although accumulating in vitro and in vivo studies suggest the bone-protective potential of these natural agents, clinical translation remains limited. Further mechanistic investigations and rigorously designed clinical trials are warranted to substantiate their efficacy and safety in human populations. This review summarizes recent progress in the mechanistic understanding of natural products involved in bone metabolism, with a particular focus on representative classes such as flavonoids, polyphenols, polysaccharides, glycosides, and terpenoids. In addition, we discuss the translational potential of integrating these agents with advanced drug delivery platforms, aiming to provide a theoretical framework and future research direction for the treatment of OP and related bone disorders.
Keywords: Natural bioactive products, Osteoporosis, Bone Regeneration, Osteo-angiogenic coupling, Immune Modulation, ferroptosis, Gut Microbiota, Gut–boneaxis
Received: 10 Aug 2025; Accepted: 17 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 ouyang, Ma, Zhou, Tang, Li, Qing, Lei, Liu and Zhang. 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:
xinyi ouyang, oyxy@stu.hnucm.edu.cn
Huiping Liu, 1074983953@qq.com
Guomin Zhang, 003334@hnucm.edu.cn
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.