Improving Bone Microarchitecture in Aging with Diosgenin Treatment: A Study in Senescence-Accelerated OXYS Rats

Osteoporosis is a major disease associated with aging. We have previously demonstrated that diosgenin prevents osteoporosis in both menopause and D-galactose-induced aging rats. OXYS rats reveal an accelerated senescence and are used as a suitable model of osteoporosis. The aim of the present study was to analyze microarchitecture and morphological changes in femur of OXYS rats using morphological tests and microcomputed tomography scanning, and to evaluate the effects of oral administration of diosgenin at 10 and 50 mg/kg/day on femur in OXYS rats. The result showed that, compared with age-matched Wistar rats, the femur of OXYS rats revealed lower bone length, bone weight, bone volume, frame volume, frame density, void volume, porosity, external and internal diameters, cortical bone area, BV/TV, Tb.N, and Tb.Th, but higher Tb.Sp. Eight weeks of diosgenin treatment decreased porosity and Tb.Sp, but increased BV/TV, cortical bone area, Tb.N and bone mineral density, compared with OXYS rats treated with vehicle. These data reveal that microarchitecture and morphological changes in femur of OXYS rats showed osteoporotic aging features and suggest that diosgenin may have beneficial effects on aging-induced osteoporosis.