Effects of misoprostol on bone loss in ovariectomized rats A. Suha Sonmez a, *, Mustafa Birincioglu b , M. Kaya O ¨ zer b , Ramazan Kutlu c , C. James Chuong d a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, Malatya, Turkey b Department of Pharmacology, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, Malatya, Turkey c Department of Radiology, Turgut Ozal Medical Center, Malatya, Turkey d University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, Camden, New Jersey, USA Received 7 September 1997; received in revised form 30 October 1997; accepted 27 October 1998 Abstract This study was performed to investigate whether misoprostol (prostaglandin E1 analogue) (Cytotec, Searle, England) is effective for restoration of bone loss. Four-month-old parous female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 30) were subjected either to bilateral ovariectomy (OVX, 24 rats) or to sham surgery (sham, 6 rats). The OVX rats were divided into four groups 60 days after the surgery. Six of them were killed, and dual-energy X-ray absorption (Norland xr-36, Norland Corporation, Fort Atkinson, WI, USA) measurements were performed, called pretreatment OVX group. The remaining groups (each had 6 rats) treated orally with 0 (control), 100, 200 g/kg/day misoprostol for 60 days. All rats were killed 60 days after having treatment, and bone loss of the lumbar spine was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorption. The bone mineral density was decreased by 25.4% in control group and 23.6% in pretreatment group compared to sham group, but restored by 86% and 96% in groups treated with 100 and 200 g/kg/day misoprostol, respectively. These results suggest that misoprostol restores bone loss in the lumbar spine of OVX rats in a dose-dependent manner. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Misoprostol; Bone mineral density; Ovariectomized rat * Corresponding author. Universite Lojmanları, D 1 Blok No:5, 44200 Malatya/Turkey; Tel.: +90-422-341- 06-60; fax: +90-422-341-07-62. Prostaglandins & other Lipid Mediators 57 (1999) 113–118 0090-6980/99/$ – see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII: S0090-6980(99)00080-X