title: [Avascular necrosis in the femoral heads of spontaneously hypertensive rats--a study on differing incidence between the sexes].
abstract: The author investigated the influence of sexual glands and testosterone on the incidence of femoral head lesions, those are osteonecrosis or ossification disturbance in the femoral heads, of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The rats were divided into the following six experimental groups: 1) untreated males (I M group); 2) castrated males (II M group); 3) castrated males treated with testosterone (III M group); 4) untreated females (I F group); 5) ovariectomized females (II F group); and 6) ovariectomized females treated with testosterone (III F group). We then compared the incidence of lesions in the 20 femoral heads in each group. There were 18, 5, 16, 6, 9, and 10 lesions in the I M, II M, III M, I F, II F and III F groups, respectively. The incidence was remarkably high in the I M group and III M group. Moreover, the incidence of abnormal findings in the growth plate of the femoral heads showed a pattern similar to that of the femoral head lesions. The above findings suggest a difference in the incidence of femoral head lesions between the sexes results from the effect of testosterone on the growth plate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohtsubo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005271:Femur Head Necrosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013739:Testosterone / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone