Preventive effects of a herbal medicine on bone loss in rats treated with a GnRH agonist.
The study was designed to evaluate the effects of a traditional Chinese herbal medicine Hochu-ekki-to (Bu-zong-yi-qi-tang), which was composed of 10 herbal medicines and had been used for the treatment of oligospermia and as a postoperative medication in Japan, on bone loss in rats treated with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist. Female rats at 40 weeks of age were divided into 4 groups of 8 rats each. In the three experimental groups, each animal received subcutaneous injections of the long-acting GnRH agonist, buserelin acetate, once every four weeks throughout the experiment. Beginning at 48 weeks of age, the experimental groups were given diets containing conjugated estrogens or Hochu-ekki-to for 8 weeks. The administration of the GnRH agonist reduced the bone mineral density in the whole femur to 91.0% of that in the control group. However, administration of conjugated estrogens and Hochu-ekki-to increased the serum concentrations of estradiol 16.8- and 5.3-fold respectively compared with concentrations in the GnRH agonist-treated group, resulting in the augmentation of the bone mineral density to 110.3% and 106.2% respectively. These findings indicate that Hochu-ekki-to enhances the reduced bone mineral density and causes a slight elevation of the serum estradiol levels in the chemically castrated rats.
Sakamoto
S
S
Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45, Yushima, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-8510, Japan. motoend@mri.tmd.ac.jp
Sassa
S
S
Kudo
H
H
Suzuki
S
S
Mitamura
T
T
Shinoda
H
H
D000818:Animals; D015519:Bone Density; D002064:Buserelin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D004958:Estradiol; D002064:Buserelin