Introduction
Bone loss associated with aging, oestrogen deficiency, immobilization or glucocorticoid treatment is characterized by insufficient bone formation relative to resorption, resulting in negative bone balance, alterations of bone mass and increased incidence of fractures [1,2] [3,4]. Strontium ranelate was reported to act by inhibiting bone resorption and promoting bone formation [5], thereby inducing a positive bone balance in experimental osteopenic models [6,7] and in patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis [3][4][5]8]. Previous studies indicate that strontium ranelate may act on osteoblasts to promote cell activity and differentiation [9][10][11][12]. Notably, others and we showed that strontium ranelate can activate cell replication in rodent calvaria osteoblasts, resulting in stimulation of collagen synthesis [9,13]