Icariin promotes bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells osteogenic differentiation via the mTOR/autophagy pathway to improve ketogenic diet-associated osteoporosis.

Background: Icariin, a traditional Chinese medicine, has demonstrated anti-osteoporotic properties in ovariectomized mice. However, its effectiveness in preventing bone loss induced by ketogenic diet (KD), which mimics osteoporosis in human, remains unexplored. This study aims to investigate icariin's impact on KD-induced bone loss in mice.