title: Alendronate treatment results in similar levels of trabecular bone remodeling in the femoral neck and vertebra.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  We aimed to determine whether trabecular bone in sites that have different surface-based remodeling rates, the femoral neck and vertebra, are differently affected by alendronate treatment. Alendronate treatment resulted in similar levels of turnover in both sites, suggesting that a lower limit of bone turnover suppression with alendronate may exist.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Bone turnover suppression in sites that already have a low surface-based remodeling rate may lead to oversuppression that could have negative effects on the biomechanical properties of bone. The goal was to determine how alendronate suppresses bone turnover at sites with different surface-based remodeling rates.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dynamic histomorphometric parameters were assessed in trabecular bone of the femoral neck and lumbar vertebrae obtained from skeletally mature beagles treated with saline (1 ml/kg/day) or alendronate (ALN 0.2 or 1.0 mg/kg/day). The ALN0.2 and ALN1.0 doses approximate, on a milligram per kilogram basis, the clinical doses used for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis and Paget's disease, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alendronate treatment resulted in similar absolute levels of bone turnover in the femoral neck and vertebrae, although the femoral neck had 33% lower pre-treatment surface-based remodeling rate than the vertebra (p < 0.05). Additionally, the high dose of alendronate (ALN 1.0) suppressed bone turnover to similar absolute levels as the low dose of alendronate (ALN 0.2) in both sites.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Alendronate treatment may result in a lower limit of trabecular bone turnover suppression, suggesting that sites of low pre-treatment remodeling rate are not more susceptible to oversuppression than those of high pre-treatment remodeling rate.
authors: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Diab
authors: M R
authors: MR
authors: Allen
authors: D B
authors: DB
authors: Burr
mesh_terms: D019386:Alendronate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016723:Bone Remodeling / Q000187:drug effects*; D004285:Dogs; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D023421:Models, Animal
chemical_list: D050071:Bone Density Conservation Agents; D019386:Alendronate