A longitudinal Raman microspectroscopic study of osteoporosis induced by spinal cord injury.
BACKGROUND
A longitudinal study was established to investigate bone compositional information in spinal cord injury (SCI) rat model.


METHODS
Raman spectroscopy was applied to detect the distal femur and humeri of SCI, sham-operated (SO), and age-matched control (CON) male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats at first, second, third, and fifth weeks after surgery. One-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD post hoc multiple comparison tests were used to analyze the longitudinal data of mineral to matrix ratio and carbonate substitution.


RESULTS
Relative mineral decrease was found in SCI group by more than 20% in femur and approximately 12% in humeri compared with CON group. No significant changes in carbonate substitution were observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Severe bone loss in the early stage of SCI was confirmed by a continuous decrease of the mineral to collagen matrix ratio. The decrease in the humeri suggested hormone level variations might participate in the etiology of SCI-induced osteoporosis.
Shen
J
J
College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
Fan
L
L
Yang
J
J
Shen
A G
AG
Hu
J M
JM
D000818:Animals; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology; D002254:Carbonates / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D005269:Femur / Q000503:physiopathology; D006811:Humerus / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology
D002254:Carbonates