Summary
Female Sprague-Dawley rats (n=72), 6 months old, underwent either sham operation, oophorectomy, adrenalectomy, or combined oophorectomy and adrenalectomy (O&A). They were all maintained on normal salinead libitum and 20 g/day 1.1% calcium chow. Nine weeks after operation, the trabecular bone volume of the distal femoral shaft was significantly lower (P<0.001) in the adrenalectomized (11.1%), oophorectomized (7.0%), and O&A (8.3%) animals than in sham-operated animals (19.8%). Eighteen weeks after operation, the trabecular bone volume in O&A animals had fallen to a mean of 3.8% (sham 17.0%), and the length of the femur had increased to 38.8 mm after O&A (sham 36.8 mm,P<0.01). O&A animals treated with 0.35 mg/kg/week nandrolone decanoate from 9 weeks postoperatively onward, had twice the femoral trabecular bone volume of untreated animals at 18 weeks (P<0.05). By contrast, no significant differences were found in vertebral body trabecular bone between any groups, including groups receiving treatment with androgens. We have found that, by 9 weeks after operation, adrenalectomy alone causes significant loss of metaphyseal trabecular bone, similar to the progressive loss seen after oophorectomy.
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Durbridge, T.C., Morris, H.A., Parsons, A.M. et al. Progressive cancellous bone loss in rats after adrenalectomy and oophorectomy. Calcif Tissue Int 47, 383–387 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02555891
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02555891