Effects of Nicotine on Bone Mass, Turnover, and Strength in Adult Female Rats

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of nicotine, the chemical responsible for tobacco addiction, on bone and on serum mineral and calcitropic hormone levels in adult, female rats to help resolve a current controversy regarding the impact of nicotine on bone health. Seven-month-old rats received either saline (n = 12), low-dose nicotine (4.5 mg/kg/day, n = 2), or high-dose nicotine (6.0 mg/kg/day, n = 12) administered subcutaneously via osmotic minipumps for 3 months. Blood, femora, tibiae, and lumbar vertebrae (3-5) were collected at necropsy for determination of serum mineral and hormonal concentrations, bone density (femora and vertebrae), bone turnover (tibiae), and bone strength (femora). The presence of nicotine in serum (111 +/- 7 and 137 +/- 10 ng/ml for the low- and high-dose nicotine groups, respectively) confirmed successful delivery of the drug via osmotic minipumps. Nicotine-induced treatment differences were not detected in serum calcium, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. However, serum phosphorus and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were higher in rats treated with high-dose nicotine, and serum calcitonin was lower in rats treated with both high- and low-dose nicotine than in control rats. Nicotine treatment had no effect on tibial cancellous or cortical bone turnover or femoral bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD). Femoral ultimate load and vertebral BMC were lower in rats treated with high-dose nicotine than in control rats. We conclude that nicotine at serum concentrations 2.5-fold greater than the average in smokers has limited detrimental effects on bone in normal, healthy female rats.

Green tea protects human osteoblasts from cigarette smoke-induced injury: possible clinical implication

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Dental extractions and bisphosphonates: the assessment, consent and management, a proposed algorithm

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Osseointegration of machined and anodized implants under the influence of nicotine

“…The chemical effect of the nicotine inhaled, added to tobacco, in the indexes of mineral serumal and calcium hormones in adult rats was investigated by Iwaniec et al 12 and Syversen et al 13 in order to elucidate controversy, approaching the impact of nicotine in bone integrity. Such authors observed that the treatment with nicotine did not have effect on the medular bone or tibia cortical turnover or on the content and mineral bone density.…”