Abstract:

BACKGROUND: There has been no consensus regarding whether lead poisoning can cause osteoporosis and whether estradiol exhibits curative effects on osteoporosis.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the curative effects of estradiol on osteoporosis-induced by ovariectomy and lead poisoning in rats.
METHODS: A total of 100 female rats were randomly and evenly divided into five groups: normal control, ovariectomized, lead poisoning, estradiol+ovariectomized and estradiol+lead poisoning. At 1 week after ovariectomy, estradiol (100 μg/kg) was subcutaneously injected into the rats in the estradiol+ovariectomized and estradiol+lead poisoning groups, twice a week, for successive 12 weeks.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In the ovariectomized group and lead poisoning group, calcium and phosphorus levels in the bone and serum were significantly decreased (P < 0.01), serum level of alkaline phosphatase was significantly increased (P < 0.01), and bone tissue showed the pathological change of osteoporosis. In the estradiol+ovariectomized group, serum levels of calcium, phosphorus, and alkaline phosphatase and bone tissue morphology returned to normal, while in the estradiol+lead poisoning group, no obvious changes in bone metabolism indices and bone tissue morphology above-mentioned did not recover obviously. The lead level in the bone and serum was significantly higher in the lead poisoning group, estradiol+lead poisoning  group than in the normal control group (P < 0.01). These results showed that lead poisoning can cause osteoporosis, and estradiol exhibits good curative effects on osteoporosis-caused by ovariectomy in rats, but it does not produce obvious curative effects on osteoporosis-caused by lead poisoning.