| Objective To study the effects of Bushen Zhuanggu Granules on structure and biomechanical properties of the femur of senescence accelerated male mice(SAMP6) , and to explore whether it would replace growth hormone for the treatment of osteoporosis in elderly men. Methods 30 senescence accelerated male mice(SAMP6) aged three mouths were divided randomly into model group, growth hormone group(GH) and chinese medicine group, 10 normal accelerated male mice(SAMR1) with the same age were selected as homologous control group. After a week of normal feeding, the mice of GH group and chinese medicine group were given medicine, weighed once a week and we adjusted dose by the weight. The mice of model and normal groups were given equivalent normal saline.Then five mice in each group randomly selected were executed by collecting eyeball blood after 3 mouths and immediately took out the left femur for measuring the bone mass and femoral geometry size and mechanical geometry of bone section and biomechanics capabilities detection. Result Compared with the model group, bone mass decreased in the medication groups after 3 months (P >0.05), and increased after 6 months (P >0.05), and the bone mass of the chinese medicine group was higher than that of the growth hormone group over the same period(P >0.05); 3 months later, cortical bone thickness and sectional area increased (P <0.05), the diameter of the bone marrow cavity and the cross sectional area decreased (P <0.05), the mechanical geometry of bone section increased (P >0.05), the parameters of bone structure mechanics were significantly improved (P <0.01), the maximum stress and elastic stress increased (P <0.01), the stiffness coefficient increased (P <0.05), and the elastic modulus increased (P >0.05) of the SAMP6 in chinese medicine group; 6 months later, the cortical bone thickness and cross-sectional area increased (P <0.01), bone marrow cavity diameter and cross-sectional area decreased (P <0.05), the mechanical geometry of bone section were significantly improved (P <0.01), the maximum load and elastic load increase (P < 0.05), the maximum, maximum bending moment, deflection and energy absorption increased (P >0.05), elastic stress and stiffness coefficient increased (P >0.05), the elastic modulus decreased P >0.05) of the SAMP6 in chinese medicine group; Compared with the growth hormone group, 3 months later, there was no significant difference in the results of each indicator of SAMP6 in chinese medicine group (P >0.05), 6 months later, the cortical bone thickness and cross-sectional area increased significantly (P <0.01), the mechanical geometry of bone section increased (P >0.05), the biomechanical parameters of bone decreased, but there was no statistical significance (P >0.05) in chinese medicine group. Conclusion Bushen Zhuanggu granules could adjust the mechanical response function to macroscopic geometric structure of bone of SAMP6 mice, improve the biomechanical properties of bone, increase its bone toughness and strength, improve its resistance to external forces deformation and fracture; it could increase bone mass in SAMP6 mice with long term administration of Bushen Zhuanggu granules; these results are equivalent to those of SAMP6 mice treated with growth hormone, so there is hope of Bushen Zhuanggu Granules to replace growth hormone, which is expensive and has more side effects, to treat osteoporosis in elderly men. |