Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Oct 18, 2018; 9(10): 190-197
Published online Oct 18, 2018. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v9.i10.190
Dose of alendronate directly increases trabeculae expansivity without altering bone volume in rat femurs
Suyany G Weiss, Gabrielle O Kuchar, Jennifer T Gerber, Fernanda Tiboni, Carmen Lucia M Storrer, Thaís C Casagrande, Allan F Giovanini, Rafaela Scariot
Suyany G Weiss, Gabrielle O Kuchar, Jennifer T Gerber, Fernanda Tiboni, Carmen Lucia M Storrer, Allan F Giovanini, Rafaela Scariot, School of Health Science, Department of Dentistry, Positivo University, Curitiba, Paraná 81280-330, Brazil
Thaís C Casagrande, School of Health Science, Department of Biotecnology, Positivo University, Curitiba, Paraná 81280-330, Brazil
Author contributions: Weiss SG performed the majority of the experiments and analyzed the data; Kuchar GO, Gerber JT and Tiboni F participated in treatment of animals; Casagrande TC was involved in surgical procedures; Storrer CLM and Giovanini AF contributed to the writing of the paper; Scariot R designed the study, performed some surgical procedures and coordinated the research.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals (ECUA 320) approved this research.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflicts of interest to report.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Rafaela Scariot, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Health Science, Department of Dentistry, Positivo University, 5300 Professor Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza Street, Campo Comprido, Curitiba, Paraná 81280-330, Brazil. rafaela.moraes@up.edu.br
Telephone: +55-41-33173454 Fax: +55-41-33173454
Received: May 7, 2018
Peer-review started: May 7, 2018
First decision: June 14, 2018
Revised: June 20, 2018
Accepted: June 28, 2018
Article in press: June 28, 2018
Published online: October 18, 2018
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Bisphosphonates are potent inhibitors of bone resorption. Sodium alendronate is the most used drug of this class, and may act on bone remodeling by reducing bone resorption in a dose-dependent manner. Its mechanism of action works primarily by both inhibiting the recruitment and promoting the apoptosis of osteoclasts, while simultaneously stimulating osteoblastic activity.

Research motivation

Despite what is currently know about alendronate-induced bone repair alterations, the literature has not yet fully elucidated the appropriate dose required to achieve better bone regeneration, nor the effects of this drug when using fixation methods.

Research objectives

To evaluate the dose-dependent effects of sodium alendronate on bone repair in treated femur fractures by using stable internal fixation and imaging tests (radiography, tomography and microtomography).

Research methods

Wistar rats were separated into three distinct groups that received applications of either saline solution (control) or different doses of alendronate. The rats then underwent femoral transversal linear fracture surgery using stable internal fixation. Drug administration lasted 45 d. The femurs were sent for radiographic, tomographic and microtomographic analysis in order to evaluate bone quantity and quality.

Research results

Results did not reveal differences in bone quantity by radiographic, tomographic and microtomography analysis. However, when analyzing bone quality, it was evident that alendronate affected the distance and quantity of trabeculae in a dose-dependent manner, thus promoting better bone regeneration.

Research conclusions

Our research results reveal that sodium alendronate, at concentrations of 1 - 3 mg/kg when assessed by imaging tests, does not alter the amount of bone neoformation. Nevertheless, it does interfere with the quality of bone neoformation when considering the quantity and disposition of bone trabeculae. The higher the dose of alendronate, the greater the number of trabeculae and the smaller the spaces among them.

Research perspectives

More research using this method of fixation and sodium alendronate are required and may relate, for example, to the mechanical force of the specimens. It is also important to compare the effects of alendronate with different markers. We suggest that follow-up studies use a dose of 1 mg/kg alendronate, since we have demonstrated here that it successfully promotes bone regeneration.