Abstract
Summary
Chronic alcohol abuse is a risk factor for osteoporosis and sarcopenia, but the long-term effects of alcohol on the immature musculoskeletal system are less clear. The present investigation in growing rats was designed to determine the effects of alcohol consumption on body composition, muscle mass, and bone mass, architecture, and turnover.
Introduction
Few studies have focused on the long-term effects of drinking on bone and muscle during skeletal maturation.
Methods
Alcohol was included in the diet of 4-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats (35% caloric intake) for 3 months. The controls were fed an isocaloric alcohol-free liquid diet ad libitum. A second study was performed in which the controls were pair-fed to the alcohol-fed animals.
Results
Compared to ad libitum-fed age-matched controls, alcohol-fed rats weighed less and had lower lean mass, fat mass, and percent body fat. In addition, they had lower slow- and fast-twitch muscle mass, lower total body bone mineral content and bone mineral density, and lower cancellous bone volume in the lumbar vertebra and proximal tibia. The effects of alcohol consumption on body composition were reduced when compared to the pair-fed control diet, indicating that caloric restriction was a comorbidity factor. In contrast, the effects of alcohol to decrease bone formation and serum leptin and IGF-I levels and to increase bone marrow adiposity appeared independent of caloric restriction.
Conclusions
The skeletal abnormalities in growing alcohol-fed rats were due to a combination of effects specific to alcohol consumption and alcohol-induced caloric restriction.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chakkalakal DA (2005) Alcohol-induced bone loss and deficient bone repair. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29(12):2077–2090
Smart RG, Ogborne A (2000) Drinking and heavy drinking by students in 18 countries. Drug Alcohol Depend 60(3):315–318
SAMHSA (2003) Results from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: national findings. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Rockville, MD
Zaborskis A et al (2006) Trends in drinking habits among adolescents in the Baltic countries over the period of transition: HBSC survey results, 1993–2002. BMC Public Health 6:67
Newes-Adeyi G et al (2005) Trends in underage drinking in the United States, 1991–2003. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Bethesda, MD
Johnston LD, O’Malley PM, Bachman JG (2005) Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975–2004, vol I: secondary school students. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bethesda, MD
Foster SE et al (2003) Alcohol consumption and expenditures for underage drinking and adult excessive drinking. JAMA 289(8):989–995
Turner RT (2000) Skeletal response to alcohol. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 24(11):1693–1701
Turner RT et al (1988) Chronic alcohol treatment results in disturbed vitamin D metabolism and skeletal abnormalities in rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 12(1):159–162
Trounce I et al (1987) Chronic alcoholic proximal wasting: physiological, morphological and biochemical studies in skeletal muscle. Aust N Z J Med 17(4):413–419
Reilly ME et al (1998) Skeletal muscle ribonuclease activities in chronically ethanol-treated rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 22(4):876–883
Addolorato G et al (2000) Body composition changes induced by chronic ethanol abuse: evaluation by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Am J Gastroenterol 95(9):2323–2327
Chakkalakal DA et al (2002) Chronic ethanol consumption results in deficient bone repair in rats. Alcohol Alcohol 37(1):13–20
Delahunty KM et al (2006) Congenic mice provide in vivo evidence for a genetic locus that modulates serum insulin-like growth factor-I and bone acquisition. Endocrinology 147(8):3915–3923
Thomsen JS et al (2005) Stereological measures of trabecular bone structure: comparison of 3D micro computed tomography with 2D histological sections in human proximal tibial bone biopsies. J Microsc 218(Pt 2):171–179
Baron R et al (1983) Processing of undecalcified bone specimens for bone histomorphometry. In: Recker RR (ed) Bone histomorphometry: techniques and interpretation. CRC, Boca Raton, FL, pp 13–35
Parfitt AM et al (1987) Bone histomorphometry: standardization of nomenclature, symbols, and units. Report of the ASBMR Histomorphometry Nomenclature Committee. J Bone Miner Res 2(6):595–610
Feinman L (1989) Absorption and utilization of nutrients in alcoholism. Alcohol Health Res World 13(3):207–210
Gruchow HW et al (1985) Alcohol consumption, nutrient intake and relative body weight among US adults. Am J Clin Nutr 42(2):289–295
Lieber CS (2005) Metabolism of alcohol. Clin Liver Dis 9(1):1–35
Hamrick MW et al (2008) Caloric restriction decreases cortical bone mass but spares trabecular bone in the mouse skeleton: implications for the regulation of bone mass by body weight. J Bone Miner Res 23:870–878
Elia M (2000) Hunger disease. Clin Nutr 19(6):379–386
Burguera B et al (2001) Leptin reduces ovariectomy-induced bone loss in rats. Endocrinology 142(8):3546–3553
Luo XH et al (2006) Adiponectin stimulates RANKL and inhibits OPG expression in human osteoblasts through the MAPK signaling pathway. J Bone Miner Res 21(10):1648–1656
Pravdova E, Fickova M (2006) Alcohol intake modulates hormonal activity of adipose tissue. Endocr Regul 40(3):91–104
Handschin AE et al (2007) Leptin increases extracellular matrix mineralization of human osteoblasts from heterotopic ossification and normal bone. Ann Plast Surg 59(3):329–333
Caetano-Lopes J, Canhao H, Fonseca JE (2007) Osteoblasts and bone formation. Acta Reumatol Port 32(2):103–110
Cornish J et al (2002) Leptin directly regulates bone cell function in vitro and reduces bone fragility in vivo. J Endocrinol 175(2):405–415
Akune T et al (2004) PPARgamma insufficiency enhances osteogenesis through osteoblast formation from bone marrow progenitors. J Clin Invest 113(6):846–855
Preedy VR et al (2001) Alcoholic skeletal muscle myopathy: definitions, features, contribution of neuropathy, impact and diagnosis. Eur J Neurol 8(6):677–687
Urbano-Marquez A et al (1989) The effects of alcoholism on skeletal and cardiac muscle. N Engl J Med 320(7):409–415
Preedy VR Peters TJ (1990) Changes in protein, RNA and DNA and rates of protein synthesis in muscle-containing tissues of the mature rat in response to ethanol feeding: a comparative study of heart, small intestine and gastrocnemius muscle. Alcohol Alcohol 25(5):489–498
Delp MD, Duan C (1996) Composition and size of type I, IIA, IID/X, and IIB fibers and citrate synthase activity of rat muscle. J Appl Physiol 80(1):261–270
Sampson HW et al (1996) Alcohol consumption inhibits bone growth and development in young actively growing rats. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20(8):1375–1384
Hogan HA et al (1997) Alcohol consumption by young actively growing rats: a study of cortical bone histomorphometry and mechanical properties. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 21(5):809–816
NOF (2002) America’s bone health: the state of osteoporosis and low bone mass in our nation. National Osteoporosis Foundation, Washington (DC). National Osteoporosis Foundation, Washington, DC
Jiang Y et al (1997) Long-term changes in bone mineral and biomechanical properties of vertebrae and femur in aging, dietary calcium restricted, and/or estrogen-deprived/-replaced rats. J Bone Miner Res 12(5):820–831
Klein RF, Fausti KA, Carlos AS (1996) Ethanol inhibits human osteoblastic cell proliferation. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 20(3):572–578
Rojdmark S Brismar K (2001) Decreased IGF-I bioavailability after ethanol abuse in alcoholics: partial restitution after short-term abstinence. J Endocrinol Invest 24(7):476–482
Lang CH et al (2004) IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ameliorates alterations in protein synthesis, eIF4E availability, and myostatin in alcohol-fed rats. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 286(6):E916–E926
Sibonga JD et al (2007) Effects of parathyroid hormone (1-34) on tibia in an adult rat model for chronic alcohol abuse. Bone 40(4):1013–1020
Mezquita-Raya P et al (2001) Relation between vitamin D insufficiency, bone density, and bone metabolism in healthy postmenopausal women. J Bone Miner Res 16(8):1408–1415
Turner RT, Sibonga JD (2001) Effects of alcohol use and estrogen on bone. Alcohol Res Health 25(4):276–281
Isaia GC et al (2005) Is leptin the link between fat and bone mass? J Endocrinol Invest. 28(10 Suppl):61–65
Rapuri PB et al (2000) Alcohol intake and bone metabolism in elderly women. Am J Clin Nutr 72(5):1206–1213
Ganry O, Baudoin C, Fardellone P (2000) Effect of alcohol intake on bone mineral density in elderly women: the EPIDOS Study. Epidemiologie de l’Osteoporose. Am J Epidemiol 151(8):773–780
Williams FM et al (2005) The effect of moderate alcohol consumption on bone mineral density: a study of female twins. Ann Rheum Dis 64(2):309–310
Turner RT et al (2001) Moderate alcohol consumption and increased bone mineral density: potential ethanol and non-ethanol mechanisms. J Bone Miner Res 16(3):589–594
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by NIH grant AA011140 and DOD grant PRO43181.
Conflicts of interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maddalozzo, G.F., Turner, R.T., Edwards, C.H.T. et al. Alcohol alters whole body composition, inhibits bone formation, and increases bone marrow adiposity in rats. Osteoporos Int 20, 1529–1538 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-009-0836-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-009-0836-y