title: Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate association increases tibial epiphyseal growth plate proliferation and bone formation in ovariectomized rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The growth plate consists of organized hyaline cartilage and serves as a scaffold for endochondral ossification, a process that mediates longitudinal bone growth. Based on evidence showing that the oral administration of glucosamine sulfate (GS) and/or chondroitin sulfate (CS) is clinically valuable for the treatment of compromised articular cartilage, the current study evaluated the effects of these molecules on the tibial epiphyseal growth plate in female rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  The animals were divided into two control groups, including vehicle treatment for 45 days (GC45) and 60 days (GC60) and six ovariectomized (OVX) groups, including vehicle treatment for 45 days (GV45), GS for 45 days (GE45GS), GS+CS for 45 days (GE45GS+CS), vehicle for 60 days (GV60), GS for 60 days (GE60GS) and GS+CS for 60 days (GE60GS+CS). At the end of treatment, the tibias were dissected, decalcified and processed for paraffin embedding. Morphological and morphometric methods were employed for analyzing the distal tibial growth plates using picrosirius red staining and the samples were processed for histochemical hyaluronan detection. Morphometric analyses were performed using the 6.0ProPlus® Image system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Notably, after 60 days of treatment, the number of proliferative chondrocytes increased two-fold, the percentage of remaining cartilage increased four-fold and the percentage of trabecular bone increased three-fold in comparison to the control animals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GS and CS treatment drugs led to marked cellular proliferation of the growth plate and bone formation, showing that drug targeting of the tibial epiphyseal growth plate promoted longitudinal bone growth.
authors: Federal University of São Paulo, Department of Gynecology and Climaterium, Brazil.
authors: Roberta Bastos
authors: RB
authors: Wolff
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005944:Glucosamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000187:drug effects*; D006820:Hyaluronic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D010052:Ovariectomy; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013977:Tibia / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D006820:Hyaluronic Acid; D002809:Chondroitin Sulfates; D005944:Glucosamine
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