Assessment of bone metabolism and biomechanical properties of the femur, following treatment with anastrozole and letrozole in an experimental model of menopause

Boutas,Ioannis; Pergialiotis,Vasilios; Salakos,Nicolaos; Korou,Laskarina‑Maria; Mitousoudis,Athanasios; Kalampokas,Emmanouil; Deligeoroglou,Efthimios; Gregoriou,Odysseas; Perrea,Despina  N.; Creatsas,George; Kourkoulis,Stavros

doi:10.3892/ol.2017.6596

Assessment of bone metabolism and biomechanical properties of the femur, following treatment with anastrozole and letrozole in an experimental model of menopause

Authors:
- Ioannis Boutas
- Vasilios Pergialiotis
- Nicolaos Salakos
- Laskarina‑Maria Korou
- Athanasios Mitousoudis
- Emmanouil Kalampokas
- Efthimios Deligeoroglou
- Odysseas Gregoriou
- Despina N. Perrea
- George Creatsas
- Stavros Kourkoulis
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Affiliations: Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece, Laboratory of Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research ‘N.S. Christeas’, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, 11527 Athens, Greece, Department of Mechanics, Laboratory of Testing and Materials‑Unit of Biomechanics, National Technical University of Athens, 15773 Athens, Greece
Published online on: July 18, 2017 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2017.6596
Pages: 3494-3502
Copyright: © Boutas et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of anastrozole and letrozole supplementation following surgically induced menopause on bone metabolism and biomechanical properties. A total of 45 Wistar rats underwent ovariectomy and were then randomly allocated to receive no treatment, anastrozole or letrozole. At 2 and 4 months following the initiation of the present study, the serum levels of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of nuclear factor‑κB ligand (RANKL) were determined, and the animals were sacrificed at the end of the 4‑month period to assess the biomechanical properties of the femoral bones. The applied force and the deflection of the central section were recorded during the test. Taking advantage of these quantities, the fracture force, the stiffness of the bone and the energy absorbed until fracture were determined. At 2 months following the initiation of the experimental protocol, the mean OPG levels were significantly increased in the control group compared with the anastrozole‑treated group (P<0.01). Similarly, RANKL levels were significantly increased in the control rats compared with the anastrozole-treated animals (P<0.001) and animals that received letrozole (P<0.05). Notably, these trends were not observed at the end of the experiment (4 months). A biomechanical study of the femoral bones revealed significantly decreased stiffness among animals that received anastrozole (P<0.05) and letrozole (P<0.01) compared with their control counterparts. The results of the present study indicate that treatment with anastrozole and letrozole significantly increases the levels of OPG and RANKL in bone, an effect that appears to be directly associated with the biomechanical properties of bones.

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