Abstract
Adolescence is a period in human growth and development that is a time of rapid and drastic change. It is also known to be an age of widespread alcohol abuse. Studies addressing the reversibility of the deleterious effects of chronic alcohol consumption on young, actively growing adolescent bones have not been done. The objective of this study was to determine the level of bone recovery, if any, once an adolescent ceases alcohol consumption. Fifty, 4-week old, female, Sprague-Dawley rats were individually housed and maintained in an American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care-accredited facility at Texas A&M. The rats (n = 6 or 7 per group) were fed either alcohol (35% ethanol-derived calories), isocaloric liquid diet, or chow for 2 or 4 weeks, depending on the experimental group. The weekly blood alcohol concentrations averaged 309 [] 9 mg/dl. The rats were sacrificed 2 and 4 weeks after the experimental feeding began. The BioQuant Morphometric System was used to perform the histomorphometric analyses of the proximal tibia. Tibia bone volume per trabecular volume (BV/TV) in both age groups of alcohol and pair-fed animals was significantly less when compared to the chow 4 week animals. BV/TV was increased in the alcohol recovery group when compared to the alcohol 2 and 4 week groups, but the level of growth never reached the chow-fed 4 week group. Femur length, diameter and volume measurements increased in the alcohol recovery group when compared to both the alcohol 2 and 4 week groups. However, the length and volume parameters did not fully recover to equal those of the control chow 4 week animals, or even the some-age pair-fed animals. Femur diameter of the alcohol recovery animals was comparable to the alcohol 4 week animals, but less than the chow-fed. Alcohol also suppressed IGF-I levels. Full bone recovery did not occur within two weeks after removal of alcohol from the diet, suggesting the detrimental effects due to alcohol were not completely reversible during this time frame.
Spears, Heather Lynae (1999). Level of osteopenia and bone recovery in alcohol-fed adolescent rats. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1999 -THESIS -S67.