Lishizhen Medicine and Materia Medica Research · Feb 2026

Research on the effect of Fructus Lycii Ruthenic and Herba Cistanches on senile osteoporosis in aged rats via regulation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

By FENG P, Xu X, Yi Y et al.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of black goji berry + Cistanche on rats with senile osteoporosis (SOP) through regulation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/serine/threonine kinase (Akt) signaling pathway. METHODS: 48 SD rats were randomly divided into a blank group, an aging group, a VE group (0.018 g·kg-1), a PI3K activator group (740 Y-P group, 10 mg·kg-1), a black goji berry + Cistanche group (1 440 mg·kg-1), and a black goji berry + Cistanche + 740 Y-P group. Micro-CT was used to assess changes in bone microarchitecture in rats; HE staining was used to observe femoral histopathology, alkaline phosphatase calcium-cobalt staining was used to assess osteoblast activity in rat femurs, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining was used to assess osteoclast activity in rat femoral tissue; ELISA was used to measure serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP-5b); Western blot was used to assess PI3K/Akt pathway protein expression in femoral tissue. RESULTS: Compared with the blank group, rats in the aging group showed marked disruption of femoral microarchitecture, significantly decreased BMD, BV/TV, Tb.N, and Tb.Th (P<0.05), increased Tb.Sp and SMI (P<0.05), marked pathological damage to bone tissue, increased serum TNF-α and TRACP-5b levels and decreased BALP levels (P<0.05), and increased PI3K and Akt protein expression levels (P<0.05); compared with the aging group, the black goji berry + Cistanche group showed improved bone microarchitecture, increased femoral BMD, BV/TV, Tb.N, and Tb.Th, decreased Tb.Sp and SMI in aged rats (P<0.05), and significantly reduced pathological damage to bone tissue in aged rats; compared with the black goji berry + Cistanche group, the 740 Y-P group showed the opposite trend. CONCLUSIONS: Black goji berry + Cistanche can improve SOP by regulating the PI3K/Akt pathway.

doi.org/10.70976/j.1008-0805.szgygy-2026-0406 Open access Interventions