Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Tissue Engineering Research Group, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Calcif Tissue Int. 2017 Oct;101(4):445-455. doi: 10.1007/s00223-017-0299-7. Epub 2017 Jun 24.
Calcium supplements are used as an aid in the prevention of osteopenia and osteoporosis and also for the treatment of patients when used along with medication. Many of these supplements are calcium carbonate based. This study compared a calcium-rich, marine multi-mineral complex (Aquamin) to calcium carbonate in an ovariectomised rat model of osteoporosis in order to assess Aquamin's efficacy in preventing the onset of bone loss. Animals were randomly assigned to either non-ovariectomy control (Control), ovariectomy (OVX) plus calcium carbonate, ovariectomy plus Aquamin or ovariectomy plus Aquamin delay where Aquamin treatment started 8 weeks post OVX. At the end of the 20-week study, the trabecular architecture was measured using micro computed tomography, bone composition was assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the mechanical properties were assessed using nanoindentation and three-point bend testing. The study demonstrates that oral ingestion of Aquamin results in less deterioration of trabecular bone structure, mineral composition and tissue level biomechanical properties in the tibia of rats following ovariectomy than calcium carbonate. This study has shown that in an animal model of osteoporosis, Aquamin is superior to calcium carbonate at slowing down the onset of bone loss.
钙补充剂被用作预防骨质减少症和骨质疏松症的辅助手段，也可与药物一起用于治疗患者。这些补充剂中有许多是以碳酸钙为基础的。本研究在去卵巢大鼠骨质疏松模型中比较了富含钙的海洋多种矿物质复合物（Aquamin）与碳酸钙，以评估 Aquamin 在预防骨丢失方面的功效。动物被随机分配到非卵巢切除术对照组（Control）、卵巢切除术（OVX）加碳酸钙组、卵巢切除术加 Aquamin 组或卵巢切除术加 Aquamin 延迟组，其中 Aquamin 治疗在 OVX 后 8 周开始。在 20 周的研究结束时，使用微计算机断层扫描测量小梁结构，使用傅里叶变换红外光谱评估骨成分，使用纳米压痕和三点弯曲测试评估组织水平的力学性能。该研究表明，与碳酸钙相比，口服摄入 Aquamin 可减少去卵巢大鼠胫骨小梁骨结构、矿物质组成和组织水平生物力学性能的恶化。这项研究表明，在骨质疏松症动物模型中，Aquamin 在减缓骨丢失的发生方面优于碳酸钙。
