Effect of long-term alcohol ingestion on the femoral head of rabbit.
Twenty New Zealand rabbits were chosen for this study (5 for controls and 15 for the alcohol group). In the alcohol group, each rabbit was fed with rice wine (2 g/kg/day alcohol) for 1 year. Bone marrow pressure of the femoral basal neck, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), liver functions, uric acid, triglyceride, cholesterol, amylase, and blood alcohol level were measured at 0 day, 6 months and 1 year. Finally, the rabbits were sacrificed at the end of the study. The livers and femoral heads were examined for pathology. The bone volume and fat cell size of the femoral head were measured with a computerized "Bone Scanner". The results (1 year comparison) were a significantly higher level of cholesterol in the alcohol group (72 +/- 40 mg% vs 26 +/- 8 mg%, p less than 0.05) and greater bone marrow pressure (27.71 +/- 8.97 mmHg vs 18.20 +/- 4.09 mmHg, p less than 0.05), and no significant difference in triglyceride, uric acid and liver function, ESR, etc., when using Student's 2-tailed t-test. Liver changes (fatty liver) occurred in 3 animals in the alcohol group. The effect of alcohol on the trabecular bone volume was not significant (51.5 +/- 4.6 vol.% vs 50.0 +/- 5.2 vol.%), but the average fat cell size of the femoral head was significantly larger than that for normal controls (2,745 +/- 605 mu2 vs 2,185 +/- 458 mu2, p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Shih
C H
CH
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan R.O.C.
Yang
W E
WE
Lee
Z L
ZL
Kao
Y L
YL
Hsueh
S
S
Wei
J S
JS
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D000818:Animals; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005235:Fatty Liver, Alcoholic / Q000473:pathology; D005270:Femur Head / Q000473:pathology; D005271:Femur Head Necrosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors
D002784:Cholesterol