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Comparable Effects of Alendronate and Strontium Ranelate on Femur in Ovariectomized Rats

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Abstract

This study compared the effects of alendronate (ALN) and strontium ranelate (SR) on bone mineral density (BMD), bone histomorphometry, and biomechanics in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. We randomly assigned 48 3-month-old female Sprague–Dawley rats to four groups: sham, OVX, ALN, and SR. Rats in the OVX, ALN, and SR groups received bilateral OVX. Rats in the ALN and SR groups were orally administrated ALN (7 mg/kg/week) and SR (500 mg/kg/day). Rats in the sham and OVX groups were treated with saline. All treatments continued for 12 weeks. Femoral BMD examination, distal femoral bone histomorphometry analysis, and biomechanical tests at the femoral diaphysis and metaphysis were performed to evaluate the effects of treatments in OVX rats. Results showed that both ALN and SR significantly increased femoral BMD (total femur, diaphyseal BMD, and distal metaphyseal BMD), distal femoral bone histomorphometric parameters (BV/TV, Tb.N, and Tb.Th), and femoral biomechanical parameters (maximum load, failure load, stiffness) compared with the OVX group (P < 0.05). No differences were found between ALN and SR in increasing femoral BMD, distal femoral bone histomorphometric parameters (BV/TV, Tb.N, and Tb.Th), and femoral diaphysis biomechanical parameters (maximum load, failure load, stiffness) (P > 0.05). The SR group was inferior to the ALN group in femoral metaphysis biomechanical parameters (P < 0.05). In conclusion, ALN (7 mg/kg/week) and SR (500 mg/kg/day) have similar effects by increasing BMD, distal femoral bone histomorphometric parameters, and femoral metaphysis biomechanical properties. Although ALN has greater effects than SR on distal femoral metaphysis biomechanical properties, in general, ALN and SR have comparable effects on the femur in OVX rats.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Foundation in 2007 (NO2007B312004). The histological examination was conducted in The Center for New Drug Function Research, School of Life Science and Biopharmacology, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University. We thank Prof. QingNan Li for help with the histological examination. Biomechanical testing was conducted in the Orthopedic Research Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, and we thank JianWei Chen for help with it.

Conflict of interest

The authors have stated that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Spine Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, 58 Zhongshan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    BaiLing Chen & XiaoXi Yang

  2. Department of Orthopedics, GuangZhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou, China

    YiQiang Li

  3. Department of Orthopedics, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China

    DengHui Xie

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  1. BaiLing Chen
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Correspondence to BaiLing Chen.

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BaiLing Chen and YiQiang Li have contributed equally to this work.

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Chen, B., Li, Y., Yang, X. et al. Comparable Effects of Alendronate and Strontium Ranelate on Femur in Ovariectomized Rats. Calcif Tissue Int 93, 481–486 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-013-9765-z

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