Intermittent cyclical etidronate treatment maintains the mass, structure and the mechanical property of bone in ovariectomized rats.

We examined the mechanical properties of rat bones treated with etidronate intermittent cyclic treatment (etidronate-ICT). Fifty Fisher rats, 7 months of age, underwent ovariectomy (OVX; n = 40) or sham operation (n = 10). The OVX rats were assigned to 4 groups injected with etidronate at the respective dose of 0, 2, 4, or 8 mg/kg of body weight (bw) 5 days each week for 2 weeks, followed by a 10-week period of no treatment. This regimen was repeated for 48 weeks. At the end of the treatment period, the ultimate bending strength and structural stiffness of the femoral midshaft in the OVX-alone group were not reduced compared with the values of the sham group, while those in the etidronate-treated groups were significantly larger than the values of the OVX group. The compressive stiffness and strength of the vertebral bodies specimens prepared from L3 and L5 vertebrae were markedly decreased in the OVX group compared with those in the sham group, but the values in the etidronate-treated groups were maintained at the same levels as those in the sham group. Mechanical properties at the tissue level, such as elastic modulus and material strength of the femoral cortex, were increased in etidronate-treated groups compared with the OVX group. The flexural modulus was also increased. The compressive elastic modulus of vertebral body in treated groups was preserved at the same level as that in the sham group. These results clearly demonstrate that in ovariectomized rats long-term etidronate intermittent cyclic treatment preserves the mechanical properties both at the whole bone and the tissue level.