The etiology of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) remains obscure in many cases and women are affected more often than men. A recent prospective study, performed in women >50 years of age suffering from recurrent BPPV, showed associated osteopenia or osteoporosis in a large percentage of these patients. These results suggested the possible relationship between recurrent BPPV and a decreased fixation of calcium in bone in women >50 years. To test this hypothesis, an experimental study was performed in adult female rats. Utricular otoconia of female rats in which osteopenia/osteoporosis was induced by bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) were compared to those of sham-operated adult females rats (SHAM), as control group. First Study: The morphology of theutricles of OVX and SHAM rats was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy. In osteopenic/osteoporotic rats, the density of otoconia (i.e. the number of otoconia per unit area) was decreased (p = 0.036)and their size was increased (p = 0.036) compared to the control group. Second Study: To test the role of calcium turnover in such morphological changes, utricular otoconia of 2 other groups of OVX and SHAM rats, previously injected with calcein subcutaneously, were examined by conventional and epifluorescence microscopy. In epifluorescence microscopy, labeling with calcein showed no significant fluorescence in either group. This finding was interpreted as a lack of external calcium turnover into otoconia of adult female rats. The ultrastructural modifications of otoconia in osteopenic/osteoporotic female adult rats as well as the role of estrogenic receptors in the inner ear are discussed. The possible pathophysiological mechanisms which support the relationship between recurrent BPPV in women and the disturbance of the calcium metabolism of osteopenia/osteoporosis are debated.

One gram of onion added to the food of rats inhibits significantly (p < 0.05) bone resorption as assessed by the urinary excretion of tritium released from bone of 9-week-old rats prelabeled with tritiated tetracycline from weeks 1 to 6. To isolate and identify the bone resorption inhibiting compound from onion, onion powder was extracted and the extract fractionated by column chromatography and medium-pressure liquid chromatography. A single active peak was finally obtained by semipreparative high-performance liquid chromatography. The biological activity of the various fractions was tested in vitro on the activity of osteoclasts to form resorption pits on a mineralized substrate. Medium, containing the various fractions or the pure compound, was added to osteoclasts of new-born rats settled on ivory slices. After 24 h of incubation, the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase positive multinucleated cells, that is, osteoclasts, were counted. Subsequently, the number of resorption pits was determined. Activity was calculated as the ratio of resorption pits/osteoclasts and was compared to a negative control, that is, medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum only and to calcitonin (10(-12) M) as a positive control. Finally, a single peak inhibited osteoclast activity significantly (p < 0.05). The structure of this compound was elucidated with high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, time-of-flight electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The single peak was identified as gamma-L-glutamyl-trans-S-1-propenyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide (GPCS). It has a molecular mass of 306 Da and inhibits dose-dependently the resorption activity of osteoclasts, the minimal effective dose being approximately 2 mM. As no other peak displayed inhibitory activity, it likely is responsible for the effect of onion on bone resorption.