Evaluation of an experimental model of osteoporosis induced in the female rat through ovariectomy.

The present paper intends to check the possibility of improving convenience of the osteoporosis model from ovariectomy in the rat by anticipating the operation to the 40th week rather than the 52nd week of age, thought by some authors to be the optimum model. To this end two parameters have been examined: 1. the bone mass variation determined with the vertebral photon densitometer and weighing of the femur ashes; 2. the chemico-crystallographic characteristics of the bone determined through chemical analysis and X-ray diffractometry. The results obtained induce us to believe that ovariectomy carried out on rats of 40 or 52 weeks of age determine bone mass losses that are statistically comparable. The variations in the dry bone weight/ash bone weight ratio are superposable and the structural chemical characteristics, due to the increase in bone turnover are testified by the increase in osteocalcin. Moreover, it was observed that the most reliable evaluation of bone mass loss can be obtained with the vertebral photon densitometry. Thus, it is thought that the model which foresees ovariectomy of rats 40 weeks after birth compared with those operated 52 weeks after birth, represents a good model of osteoporosis from estrogen deficiency which, due to the evident practical advantages deriving from the use of younger animals it associates a decrease in the use of laboratory animals with statistically reliable results.