Coumarins from Cnidium monnieri and their antiosteoporotic activity.

Bioactivity-guided fractionation has led to the successful isolation of antiosteoporotic components, i. e., osthole, imperatorin and bergapten from an ethanolic extract of the fruits of Cnidium monnieri (L.) Cusson. Among them, osthole was determined as the major compound possessing antiosteoporotic activity. Further study showed that osthole not only promoted the proliferation and activity of alkaline phosphatase of osteoblasts in neonatal calvaria cultures, but also inhibited the bone resorption by decreasing the formation, differentiation and TRAP activity of osteoclasts derived from rat marrow cells.