Greater bone formation induction occurred in aged than young cancellous bone sites

We have determined the differences in the effects of continual prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) treatment in aged (non-growing) and young (growing) cancellous bone sites in 7-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats. The sites involved are the aged distal tibial metaphysis (DTM) with a closed epiphysis and the young proximal tibial metaphysis (PTM) with a slow growing, open epiphysis. The study involved rats treated with 0, 1, 3 or 6 mg PGE2/kg/d for 60, 120 and 180 days. Static and dynamic histomorphometry of percent trabecular area, and tissue-referent bone formation rate (BFR/TV) were determined in both DTM and PTM. In pretreatment controls, the secondary spongiosa of the two metaphyses contain the same amount of cancellous bone (11% in DTM vs. 13% in PTM), but markedly less bone formation in DTM (0.6%/y in DTM vs. 41.5%/y in PTM). After 60 days of 6 mg PGE2/kg/d treatment, %Tb.Ar was increased 607% in DTM and 199% in PTM, BFR/TV was increased to nearly 14 fold in DTM and only 5 fold in PTM. These results indicated the aged metaphysis of the DTM was much more responsive to PGE2 treatment than young, growing metaphysis of the PTM. The results of 120 and 180 days treatment did not significantly differ from 60 days treatment in both sites, indicating that the effect of continuous daily PGE2 treatment were in equilibrium after 60 days. We concluded that aged metaphysis was much more responsive to PGE2 treatment than young growing metaphysis.