[Bone metabolism in postmenopausal women and after estrogen treatment]

Changes of bone metabolism in 11 premenopausal women and 109 postmenopausal women were studied. 50 postmenopausal women were randomly divided into 4 groups: 20, 10 and 6 cases were given nylestriol, diethyl stilbestrol and chlorotrianisen respectively, and 14 cases served as control. It was shown that bone mineral content (BMC), and, blood estrogen level in postmenopausal women were significantly lower than those of premenopausal women. Close correlation existed between E1, E2, and BMC. Serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bone GLA protein (BGP), urine Ca/Cr and Hpr/Cr were markedly increased in postmenopausal women and declined after 3 months of treatment with nylestriol, diethylstilbestrol or chlorotrianisen. The radial BMC increased by 0.8% with (P > 0.05) nylestriol treatment for one year and decreased by 1.1% (P < 0.05) in the control cases. The present study indicated that postmenopausal estrogen deficiency accelerated bone loss, which was prevented by small substitution doses of estrogen such as nylestriol.