Abstract—Bone defects are a major health issue, affecting millions of patients and reducing their quality of life. The alternative regenerative approaches for bone healing and formation are required due to the limitations of bone graft, a gold standard treatment, which include immune rejection, pathogen transmission, and limited donor supply. One approach that is being explored is to identify factors or natural products that can induce osteogenic differentiation, an important process involved in bone repair. In this study, the potential of methanolic extract of cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) on the induction of osteogenic differentiation was investigated. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents of cape gooseberry crude extract were found to be 1.874 mg QE/g and 0.037 mg GAE/g respectively. The cytotoxicity of cape gooseberry extract at the concentration of 10, 25, 50, and 100 μg/ml were tested by MTT assay. The results showed that at the concentration of 10, 25, and 50 μg/ml, the extract was not toxic to the cells and the highest cell viability was observed at concentrations of 10 and 25 μg/ml. Osteogenic differentiation was assessed using two osteogenic assays, Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) activity and alizarin red staining. The results indicated that cape gooseberry extract can induce the activity of ALP enzyme and the deposition of calcium in the matrix as quantified from alizarin red staining at all time points (7, 14, and 21 days). The ALP induction was significantly higher than both control and differentiation (osteogenic induction) groups. The calcium deposition was significantly increased when the cells were treated with cape gooseberry extract. Furthermore, it was discovered that 25 μg/ml was the extract’s most effective concentration. According to all of the findings, cape gooseberry shows promise in promoting osteogenic differentiation, making it a potential candidate for bone tissue regeneration applications. 
 

Keywords—cape gooseberry, Physalis peruviana, osteogenic differentiation