Influences of traditional Chinese medicine intervention on the bone growth and metabolism of rats with simulated weightlessness

Abstract

Objective: To probe into the influences of Chinese herbal compound on the growth and metabolism of weight-bearing bones of tail-suspended rats. Methods: Twenty-four male SD rats were randomly divided into blank control group (eight), tail-suspended control group (eight) and Chinese medicine treatment group (eight) according to their weights. No treatment was done for the blank control group. Double distilled water lavage was performed daily for the tail-suspended control group. On the basis of the tail-suspended rat model, the rats were given Chinese herbal compound lavage every day in Chinese medicine treatment group. This compound includes mulberry, Poria cocos and barbary wolfberry, etc. The test cycle was four weeks. The rats were killed after the experiment. The right femoral bone was taken out for the physical measurements, and the left femoral bone was for the three-point bending test. The influences of Chinese herbal compound on femoral bone growth and biomechanical properties of simulated weightlessness rats were observed. Results: (1) After simulated weightlessness (tail-suspension), compared with the blank control group, all the physiological indexes of rat femoral bone decreased in tail-suspended group and Chinese medicine treatment group (P<0.05). The strength and rigidity of rat femoral bone decreased in tail-suspended group (P<0.01). The maximum load and rigidity coefficient also decreased with the increasing toughness coefficient in the control group (P<0.01). (2) After the countermeasure of Chinese herbal compound, each biomechanical indexes showed the tendency of increasing in Chinese medicine treatment group, and theses indexes were close to those of the blank control group (P<0.05), which indicated that the bone loss caused by simulated weightlessness was improved. Conclusions: Chinese herbal compound for tonifying kidney could effectively prevent the bone loss and have some enhancements on the bone biomechanical properties. © 2013 Hainan Medical College.