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Disuse osteopenia induced by botulinum toxin is similar in skeletally mature young and aged female C57BL/6J mice

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Abstract

Osteopenia and osteoporosis predominately occur in the fully grown skeleton. However, it is unknown whether disuse osteopenia in skeletally mature, but growing, mice resembles that of fully grown mice. Twenty-four 16-week-old (young) and eighteen 44-week-old (aged) female C57BL/6J mice were investigated. Twelve young and nine aged mice were injected with botulinum toxin in one hind limb; the remaining mice served as controls. The mice were euthanized after 3 weeks of disuse. The femora were scanned by micro-computed tomography (µCT) and bone strength was determined by mechanically testing the femoral mid-diaphysis and neck. At the distal femoral metaphysis, the loss of trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV) differed between the young and aged mice. However, at the distal femoral epiphysis, no age-dependent differences were observed. Thinning of the trabeculae was not affected by the age of the mice at either the distal femoral metaphysis or the epiphysis. Furthermore, the aged mice lost more bone strength at the femoral mid-diaphysis, but not at the femoral neck, compared to the young mice. In general, the bone loss induced by botulinum toxin did not differ substantially between young and aged mice. Therefore, the loss of bone in young mice resembles that of aged mice, even though they are not fully grown.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the hard work and excellent technical assistance of Jytte Utoft. We thank Visiopharm for the contribution to the newCAST stereology software system and the VELUX Foundation for the donation of the µCT scanner. The study was kindly supported by the Health at Aarhus University, Oda and Hans Svennings Foundation, The Vanføre Foundation, Frimodt-Heineke Foundation, Helga and Peter Kornings Foundation, Læge Søren Segel and hustru Johanne Wiibroe Segels Reseachfoundation, Inge og Per Refshalls Researchfoundation, Direktør Jacob Madsen og hustru Olga Madsens Foundation, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Wilhelm Meyers Allé 3, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Jens Bay Vegger, Annemarie Brüel, Mikkel Bo Brent & Jesper Skovhus Thomsen

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  1. Jens Bay Vegger
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  2. Annemarie Brüel
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  3. Mikkel Bo Brent
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  4. Jesper Skovhus Thomsen
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Correspondence to Jens Bay Vegger.

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Vegger, J.B., Brüel, A., Brent, M.B. et al. Disuse osteopenia induced by botulinum toxin is similar in skeletally mature young and aged female C57BL/6J mice. J Bone Miner Metab 36, 170–179 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-017-0830-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00774-017-0830-y

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