Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis in Athletes by Anti Osteoclast Effect of Epigallocatechin Gallate and Epigallocatechin Gallate-<bold><italic>β</italic></bold>-Cyclodextrin

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of epigallocatechin gallate （EGCG） and its inclusion complex with β-cyclodextrin （β-CD） （EGCG-β-CD） on anti osteoclastogenesis and prevention of osteoporosis in athletes. The successful inclusion of EGCG and β-CD was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography （HPLC）， and the binding stoichiometry was 1.89∶1. Using the RAW264.7 osteoclast differentiation model induced by RANKL， the tartrate resistant acid phosphatase （TRAP） staining， real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR （qRT-PCR） and Western blot analysis showed that at the same concentration （10 μmol/L）， the inhibitory effect of EGCG-β-CD complex on osteoclast differentiation was significantly stronger than that of EGCG， which showed that the number of mature osteoclasts decreased （P＜0.05）， and the mRNA and protein expression levels of osteoclast marker genes NFATc1， CTSK and TRAP were significantly down regulated （P＜0.001）. Studies have shown that β-CD synergistically enhances its anti osteoclast activity by forming a specific stoichiometric inclusion complex with EGCG， providing a new delivery strategy of plant active ingredients for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in athletes.