Effects of Bojungikgitang-gagambang on Longitudinal Bone Growth in Adolescent Rats

Objectives: This study was aimed to investigate the effectof Bojungikgitang-gagambang (BJIG) on longitudinal bone growth in rats. Methods: The BJIG treated group (300 mg/kg) and the control group (vehicle) were administered orally twice daily for 4 days. To investigate the effects of BJIG we measured body weight gain. The bone growth effect was analyzed by measuring between fluorescent lines marked with tetracycline, which plays the role of fluorescent dye on the surface of the tibia. Tetracycline was intraperitoneally injected. The height of growth plates in the epiphyseal plate was measured. The expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and insuline-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Results: BJIG caused a significant acceleration of longitudinal bone growth of 349.7 ± 15.9 /day compared to control (319.8 ± 21.4 /day). The height of overall growth plate was not significantly more compared to the control, but the size of cells in the proliferative zone and hypertrophic zone were. In the immunohistochemistry, BMP-2 and IGF-1 were expressed markedly in the proliferative or hypertrophic zone, respectively. Conclusions: BJIG stimulated the chondrocyte hypertrophy and chondrogenesis in the growth plate and directly increased the longitudinal tibia length of rats.