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Updated: Mar 7, 2026
Surgical Bone Implantation Technique for Rat Tibia Models of Diabetes and Osteoporosis
Published on: July 5, 2024
Long-term wheel-running can prevent deterioration of bone properties in diabetes mellitus model rats
A Minematsu1, T Hanaoka, D Takeshita
1Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Kio University.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of long-term wheel-running on tibia bone properties in T2DM Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats.
Methods:
Ten five-week-old male OLETF rats were used as experimental animals and 5 Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rats as controls. Half of OLETF rats performed daily voluntary wheel-running for 17 months (OLETF-EXE), while neither the remainder of OLETF nor LETO rats had exercise. At the end of experiment, in addition to serum biochemical and bone formation/resorption marker analyses, bone mass, trabecular bone microarchitecture and cortical bone geometry were analyzed in left tibia, and bone mechanical strength of right tibia was measured.
Results:
Tibia bone mass, trabecular bone microarchitecture, cortical bone geometry and bone mechanical strength deteriorated in diabetic OLETF rats. However, such deterioration was obviously attenuated in OLETF-EXE rats, which maintained normal levels of blood glucose, HbA1c and blood urea nitrogen.
Conclusions:
Daily wheel-running could prevent the deterioration of bone properties in OLETF rats. This would be induced mainly by suppressing the development of T2DM. Regular physical exercise may be a potent strategy for preventing not only the development of diabetes but also the deterioration of bone properties in patients with chronic T2DM.
