A potential experimental model for the study of osteopenia in CCl4 liver cirrhotic rats

In order to search for an experimental model to further investigate the osteopenia associated to liver cirrhosis (LC), this study has been focused on investigating the occurrence of bone disorders in male rats to which LC histologically confirmed was induced through the validated procedure of CCl4 inhalation. Length, anteroposterior and lateromedial diameters, densitometry, mechanical stress resistance, hydroxyproline (OHprol) and calcium and phosphate contents were measured in femurs from control (n = 10) and liver cirrhosis rats (n = 10). It has been found that femurs from liver cirrhosis rats showed a significant reduction (p < 0.01) in bone weight (0.254 +/- 0.003 vs 0.230 +/- 0.004 g/100 g b.w.), anteroposterior (4.08 +/- 0.06 vs 3.69 +/- 0.05 mm) and lateromedial (5.33 +/- 0.05 vs 5.08 +/- 0.04 mm, p < 0.05) diameters, resistance to mechanical stress (405.8 +/- 9.5 vs 332.5 +/- 9.1 N) and total densitometry (0.416 +/- 0.005 vs 0.381 +/- 0.004 g/cm2). However, no significant differences were observed in bone length, calcium, OHprol and phosphate (all expressed as mg/100 mg fresh bone tissue) contents. Therefore, the proteins matrix to mineral contents ratio was not altered. These results indicate that in this model of experimental liver cirrhosis there is osteopenia characterized by bone frailty and reduced thickness, and it could offer an experimental model to study bone changes associated to liver cirrhosis.