The harmful effects of late-onset alcohol consumption on cortical bone in aged rats

Abstract

This study looked at the effects of late-onset alcohol consumption for 8 weeks on the aged rat model (15 months old). Thirty 15 month old female Fisher 344 rats were divided into three diet groups: Alcohol (n=9), pair-fed (n=9), and pellet (n=6), with six rats sacrificed at the beginning of the study to measure baseline parameters. Alcohol-fed animals were provided with a modified Lieber-De Carli liquid diet containing 35% of calories derived from ethanol. The pair-fed group was provided with an equal amount of isocaloric liquid diet with maltose-dextrin replacing the ethanol calories. The pellet group had free access to standard rat chow for the entire duration of the study. Over the 8 week study period, blood alcohol concentrations were taken weekly, and averaged 52 ± 5 mg/dL. The greatest weight gain among groups of rats at termination of the experiment was experienced in the pair-fed group of rats, followed by the alcohol group, and then the pellet group. After 8 weeks, the 24 remaining rats were euthanized with Halothane, and the right and left femurs removed and cleaned free of soft tissue for analysis. Three-point bending tests were performed on the left femur to determine mechanical properties, while the right femur was used to determine bone chemistry and morphological parameters. The effects of alcohol consumption, the aging process and caloric restriction were examined after obtaining results from this experiment. From the results found, it is evident that alcohol does have a detrimental effect on the aged bone, that the bones of the aged rat are still undergoing changes after 15 months of age, and that a caloric restriction does not have any significant effects on the aged rat bones.