Characterization of the trabecular rat bone mineral: effect of ovariectomy and bisphosphonate treatment

Bisphosphonates, potent inhibitors of bone resorption, have been used clinically to correct the continued loss of bone mass in osteoporosis and in other conditions. However, there has been some concern that long-term treatment with these compounds, as well as more recently developed drugs, may also decrease the rate of bone formation. Bisphosphonates, which are strongly bound to hydroxyapatite crystals, may alter the structure and reactivity of the crystals, interfere with new crystal nucleation and growth, as well as alter the short-range order of newly formed crystals. We have investigated the chemistry and structure of the solid calcium-phosphate mineral phase of lumbar vertebrae of ovariectomized, 6.5-month-old rats treated with bisphosphonates for 1 year after onset of osteopenia. Appropriate control groups were used for comparison. The techniques used to assess the mineral phase were chemical analyses, Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) and FT-Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR microspectroscopy, and phosphorus-31 magic-angle-sample spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P MAS NMR). The 31P MAS NMR spectra of trabecular bone of lumbar vertebrae of control, ovariectomized, and treated animals were similar. However, there were several significant differences in the results obtained by FT-IR spectroscopy of the whole tissue samples, FT-IR microspectroscopy of sections of bone, and chemical analyses. For example, whereas chemical analyses demonstrated that the CO3 content of the mineral phase of the ovariectomized animals was decreased compared with controls, FT-IR microspectroscopy of bone sections showed no changes in the relative CO3 content, but some changes in the environment of the CO3 groups. However, chemical analyses of the crystals, combined with data from all three spectroscopic methods and with data from serum analysis, did indicate small changes in the mineral phase after ovariectomy, corrected after treatment with bisphosphonates. In any event, the chemical and structural data in the present studies demonstrate that the bisphosphonate, tiludronate, does not significantly alter the mineral components of bone after 1 year of treatment during the course of which bone loss was reversed.