ABSTRACT: Autophagy is vital for maintaining cellular homeostasis through removing impaired organelles. It has recently been found to play pivotal roles in diabetes mellitus (DM), which is associated with increased bone fracture risk and loss of bone density. However, the mechanism whereby autophagy modulates DM-induced bone loss is not fully elucidated. Previous work has shown that 1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D) exerts positive effects on autophagy, thus affecting bone metabolism. Here, we investigated whether autophagy was involved in the regulation of diabetic bone metabolism. Using Micro-CT, Elisa, histology, and histomorphometry analysis, we demonstrated that 1,25D rescues glucose metabolism dysfunction and ameliorates bone loss in diabetic mice. In vitro, 1,25D alleviated primary osteoblast dysfunction and intracellular oxidative stress through reducing prolonged high-glucose-mediated excessive autophagy in primary osteoblasts, reflected by decreased protein level of Beclin1 and LC3. Of note, the autophagy activator rapamycin (RAP) ablated the positive effects of 1,25D in diabetic environment, leading to a marked increase in autolysosomes and autophagosomes, examined by mRFP-GFP-LC3 fluorescence double labeling. The excessive autophagy induced by high glucose was deleterious to proliferation and differentiation of primary osteoblasts. Additionally, biochemical studies identified that PI3K/Akt signaling could be activated by 1,25D, resulting in the inhibition of FoxO1. We confirmed that FoxO1 deficiency alleviated high-glucose-induced autophagy and improved biological functions of primary osteoblasts. Together, our results suggest that the PI3K/Akt/FoxO1 signaling pathway is involved in the osteoprotective effect of 1,25D by attenuating autophagy in diabetes, providing a novel insight for the prevention and treatment of diabetes-caused bone loss.
