Biomechanical and tomographic differences in the microarchitecture and strength of trabecular and cortical bone in the early stage of male osteoporosis

PLoS One. 2019 Aug 8;14(8):e0219718. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219718. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a continuous process of loss of bone tissue. Compared to women, osteoporosis in men is associated with greater morbidity and mortality. In this study, we conducted tomographic and biomechanical evaluations of trabecular and cortical bone in the early stage of male osteoporosis. Male Wistar rats were subjected to orchiectomy and sham operation. Four weeks after being castrated, decreased levels of testosterone in plasma were found and resulted in concurrent bone loss. Separately, the orchiectomy led to significant tomographic alterations in the trabecular bone number, trabecular separation, and trabecular pattern factor. Data of a mechanistic compression test further showed that the orchiectomy diminished the maximum loading force, displacement at maximum load, energy at maximum load, and ultimate stress. Interestingly, orchiectomy-triggered changes in the maximum loading force and tomographic parameters were highly correlated. In contrast, tomographic and biomechanical analyses showed that 4 weeks after rats were orchiectomized, the thickness, area, maximum loading force, bone stiffness, energy at maximum load, and ultimate stress of the cortical bone were not changed. Taken together, this study showed specific differences in the microarchitecture and strength of trabecular bone in the early stage of male osteoporosis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Bone Density / physiology
  • Bone and Bones / physiology
  • Cancellous Bone / physiology*
  • Cortical Bone / physiology*
  • Femur / physiology
  • Male
  • Orchiectomy / methods
  • Osteoporosis / metabolism
  • Osteoporosis / physiopathology*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Testosterone / metabolism
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods

Substances

  • Testosterone

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the Chi-Mei Medical Center (102CM-TMU-14-4), Wan Fang Hospital (108-wf-eva-04), and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST107-2314-B-038-036-MY3), Taipei, Taiwan.