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Effects of human parathyroid hormone 1–34 on bone loss and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration in ovariectomized rats

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Abstract

Purpose

Lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration is a common cause of lower back pain that affects the physical and mental health of patients and increases social burden. Parathyroid hormone has been reported to be effective at inhibiting disc degeneration; however, these effects have not been fully established in vivo in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Thus, in this study, we aimed to address this issue and examine the effects of parathyroid hormone treatment in OVX rats.

Methods

Thirty female Sprague-Dawley rats, three months-old, were subjected to sham or ovariectomy surgery. Twelve weeks postsurgery, OVX rats were treated with either human parathyroid hormone [hPTH(1–34), 30 μg/kg/day] or vehicle (normal saline (NS)) treatment. The L3–6 spinal segments were harvested after 12 weeks treatment. Bone mineral density (BMD), micro-architectural parameters, and biomechanical assessment were measured at the lumbar vertebral bodies. Histology and immunohistochemistry were performed to analyze the characteristics of the lumbar intervertebral discs.

Results

OVX + PTH rats had significantly higher BMD, percentage bone volume density, trabecular thickness, and biomechanical strength compared with those in Sham and OVX + NS rats. Histology and immunostaining revealed that disc degeneration was not significantly different between the OVX + NS rats and the OVX + PTH rats, compared with the Sham group; the structure of nucleus pulposus was disordered, the expression of collagen I was increased, and collagen II and aggrecan were decreased.

Conclusions

These findings confirmed that hPTH(1–34) treatment has substantial anabolic effects on bone mass and trabecular micro-architecture, while the excessively enhanced bone mass and strength were coupled with a non-significant effect on the disc degeneration in ovariectomized rats.

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Funding

This work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31671235), Key project of Nature Science Foundation of Hebei Province (no. H2016209176), and Natural Science Foundation of Hebei province (no. H2013209257).

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Author notes

  1. Yang Luo and Shu-yang Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of North China University of Science and Technology, No. 73 Jianshe South Rd, Tangshan, 063000, Hebei, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Luo, Hui-ping Song & Liu Zhang

  2. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Luo & Ying-ze Zhang

  3. College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Huhehaote, People’s Republic of China

    Shu-yang Li

  4. Medical Research Center, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, People’s Republic of China

    Fa-ming Tian

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  1. Yang Luo
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  2. Shu-yang Li
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Correspondence to Liu Zhang.

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The authors declare that there they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All experimental procedures were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

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Luo, Y., Li, Sy., Tian, Fm. et al. Effects of human parathyroid hormone 1–34 on bone loss and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration in ovariectomized rats. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 42, 1183–1190 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-018-3821-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-018-3821-2

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