Alcohol Consumption by Young Actively Growing Rats: A Study of Cortical Bone Histomorphometry and Mechanical Properties

Abstract

Alcohol consumption by young actively growing rats has been previously demonstrated to decrease cortical and cancellous bone density, to reduce trabecular bone volume, and to inhibit bone growth at the epiphyseal growth plate. This study addresses the action of alcohol on cortical bone growth using histomorphometric techniques and on mechanical properties by three-point bending. Four-week-old, female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups. Alcohol-treated animals were fed a modified Lieber-DeCarli diet ad libitum containing 35% ethanol-derived calories, whereas the pair-fed animals (weight-matched to ethanol rats) received an isocaloric liquid diet in which maltose-dextrin-substituted calories were supplied by ethanol. Chow animals were fed a standard rat chow ad libitum. Femora were removed for analysis after 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks on the diets. Cortical bone area, bone formation rates, and mineral apposition rates were reduced in the alcohol-fed animals. Bone stiffness, strength, and energy absorbed to fracture were significantly lower in the alcohol-fed animals. This distinctive alcohol effect was revealed to be caused by lower quality bone tissue as reflected by lower elastic moduli and yield strengths.

Bone-97 Alcohol and Skeletal Adaptation to Mechanical Usage

“…The detrimental changes in cortical bone histomorphometry observed in rats fed alcohol were anticipated because of the well documented inhibition of periosteal and endocortical bone formation by ethanol in rapidly growing male and female rats Hogan et al, 1997;Turner et al, 1988;Sampson et al, 1996;Sampson et al, 1997b;Peng et al, 1988). The present study extends earlier work by showing that alcohol inhibits cortical bone formation in rats approaching skeletal maturity and by investigating the combined effects of alcohol and reduced weight bearing on cortical bone.…”

“…Altered caloric intake was controlled for by pair-feeding the controls to alcohol-fed rats. Consistently, (Hogan et al, 1997;Turner et al, 1988;Sampson et al, 1996) alcohol leads to a further reduction in bone growth over and above that caused by caloric restriction. In contrast to growing rats, with proper acclimation, alcohol has minimal effects on food consumption and body weight in adults.…”

“…We and others have shown that caloric intake is reduced in alcohol-fed growing rats. Reduced caloric intake results in decreased bone growth which in turn results in a decrease in peak bone mass (Hogan et al, 1997;Turner et al, 1988;Sampson et al, 1996). Altered caloric intake was controlled for by pair-feeding the controls to alcohol-fed rats.…”

Detrimental Effects of Alcohol on Bone Growth

“…These reductions in bone growth contribute to a decrease in bone mass. Similar changes were observed by Sampson and colleagues in growing female Sprague Dawley rats fed alcohol (Sampson et al 1996;Hogan et al 1997;Sampson et al 1997;Sampson & Spears 1999). Fig.…”

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“…In rats, Nishiguchi et al [25] reported bone loss in different ages and sex [25]. Another two study examined the negative consequences of alcohol intake on cortical bone of mice and presented negative alterations on thickness and porosity of cortical bone, as well as on density of trabecular structure [24,26].…”