Histomorphometric Analysis: Effects of Simvastatin on Bone Mass, Microarchitecture and Turnover in Normal Rat

Abstract

Simvastatin, as one of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors for lowering lipids, has been demonstrated its potential benefit in bone formation, which was, however, conflicting and inconclusive in vivo studies. Thus, we performed this study to assess the in vivo effects of simvastatin on bone formation. Six-week old rats were administered with simvastatin (20 mg/kg/d) or vehicle for 6 or 9 weeks. All animals were sacrificed one day after the final administration. The left femora were removed for the measurement of bone histomorphometry and bone mineral density (BMD).Compared to the control groups, on both 6th week and 9th week, bone mineral density and bone histomorphometry detected no significant differences in bone mass and microarchitecture in simvastatin treatment group, as well as bone formatin/resorption parameters. These results indicate that simvastatin had no positive effect or impact on bone in rats administered with high dose simvastatin (20 mg/kg/d) for 6 or 9 weeks.