Bone
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Comparative Study
Effects of droloxifene on prevention of cancellous bone loss and bone turnover in the axial skeleton of aged, ovariectomized rats.
The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of droloxifene (DRO), an estrogen antagonist/agonist, in preventing ovariectomy (OVX)-induced lumbar vertebral cancellous bone loss and bone turnover in aged female rats. Fifty-three Sprague-Dawley female rats were OVX or sham-operated at 19 months of age, and divided into 6 groups: (I) sham-operated controls; (II) OVX vehicle controls; (III) OVX rats treated with E2 at 30 micrograms/kg/day; (IV)-(VI) OVX rats treated with DRO at either 2.5, 5, or 10 mg/kg p.o. daily. The treatment period was 8 weeks. ⋯ However, DRO had no effect on uterine weight at either 2.5 or 10 mg/kg/day, while it only slightly but significantly increased uterine weight over OVX controls at 5 mg/kg/day. We conclude that DRO was efficacious in the prevention of lumbar vertebral cancellous bone loss and in the decline of total serum cholesterol but had no effect on uterine weight in the aged, OVX female rats. Our data suggest that DRO is a potentially useful agent for the prevention of vertebral bone loss leading to spinal fractures in postmenopausal women.