Ingestion of collagen peptides prevents bone loss and improves bone microarchitecture in chronologically aged mice

• Main Authors: Hongdong Song, Siqi Zhang, Ling Zhang, Bo Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-01-01
• Series: Journal of Functional Foods
• Subjects: Collagen peptides; Bone mineral density; Bone microarchitecture; Osteoporosis; Chronologically aged mice
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464618305449

There is no knowledge about the effect of collagen peptides (CPs) on age-related bone loss. The purpose of this study was to examine whether CPs prevents bone loss in chronologically aged process. 13-month-old Kunming mice were administered with CPs for 8 weeks. Results showed that the bone mechanical strength, bone mineral density (BMD) and collagen content were significantly increased and the bone microarchitecture was greatly improved in the aged mice after CPs treatment. Further analysis of molecular mechanism showed that CPs upregulated collagen synthesis-related TGF-β and Smad3 level, but downregulated Smad7. Besides, serum level of tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) was significantly decreased after CPs intake, whereas alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was not affected. These results indicate that CPs ingestion prevents age-related bone loss and improves bone microarchitecture by increasing collagen synthesis and inhibiting bone absorption and highlight its potential application as functional food to prevent osteoporosis in chronologically aged process.