Abstract
Bone strength is influenced by bone quality besides its density. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of teriparatide on changes of bone strength as well as trabecular and cortical bone microstructures at femoral neck in female ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Eighteen female Wister rats were divided into three groups: the sham control, OVX and treatment (Tx) groups. All of them were sacrificed after 3-month intermittent teriparatide intervention in Tx group. All left femurs were removed and scanned using micro-CT and followed by mechanical test for each femoral neck. Regarding micro-CT, four trabecular parameters including bone volume fraction (BV/TV), trabecular thickness (TbTh), trabecular separation (TbSp), and trabecular number (TbN) and three cortical parameters including volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD), cortical cross-sectional area (CtAr) and cortical thickness (CtTh) were measured at femoral neck region. All data were analyzed and was presented as median ± SEM. The mean bone strength of femoral neck significantly decreased in OVX group when compared to the control group (p < 0.05) and was significantly restored in Tx group (p < 0.01). Regarding the trabecular parameters, the BV/TV and TbTh significantly decreased in OVX group while compare to Tx group. However, no significant difference was observed in TbSp and TbN between the groups. Regarding the cortical parameters, CtTh was significantly greater in Tx group than that in OVX group (p<0.01). As our findings, intermittent teriparatide can improve the deteriorated bone strength of femoral neck due to ovarian deficiency via changing both trabecular microarchitecture and cortical morphology.
