Quantitative ultrastructural analyses of rabbit osteoclasts. The effect of in vivo treatment with sodium salicylate.

Rabbit tibial osteoclasts were examined by electron microscopy and quantitative data on their ultrastructural morphology collected by methods described by Holtrop. Osteoclasts from the tibiae of two groups of rabbits were compared: one fed a commercial diet and the other fed the same diet containing 2% sodium salicylate (v/w). No changes in the total number of tibial osteoclasts were detected but average osteoclast size, numbers of nuclei per osteoclast and ruffled border and clear zone areas decreased (p less than 0.05), as did the proportion of osteoclasts directly attached to bone. These results suggest that osteoclast activity is inhibited by in vivo salicylate therapy.