Objective To explore the effect of morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza combination on osteoporosis in ovariectomised rats. Methods Thirty SD female rats were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, estradiol valerate treatment group, and morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza (low, medium, and high dose) treatment group. Except for the sham-operated group, ovariectomy was performed in the rest of the groups to induce osteoporosis model. Rats were collected after 12 weeks of gavage administration. Serum bone transformation indexes were measured in each group, as well as femur micro-CT detection and bone microstructure analysis. HE and TRAP staining results of the femur were also observed and analyzed. Results Compared to those in the model group, the results of serum bone transformation showed that serum levels of OPG, PINP, OCN, and BMP-2 elevated (P<0.01), but levels of TRACP and β-CTX decreased (P<0.01) in the morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza treatment group and the estradiol treatment group. Meanwhile the results of micro-CT showed that bone mineral density (BMD), bone volume/total volume (BV/TV) increased (P<0.01), bone surface area/bone volume (BS/BV) decreased (P<0.01), cortical bone thickness (Ct.Th, mm) and cortical bone area/total bone area (Ct.Ar/Tt. Ar, %) increased (P<0.01), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th, mm) and number of trabeculae (Tb.N, mm-1) increased (P<0.01), and trabecular separation (Tb.Sp, mm) decreased (P<0.01) in the morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza treatment group and the estradiol treatment group. The results of HE staining and RAP staining showed that compared to those in the model group, the structure, number, and continuity of bone trabeculae were significantly improved and the number of osteoclasts reduced in the morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza treatment group and the estradiol treatment group. Simultaneously, the effect in morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza medium-dose treatment group was better than that in the estradiol treatment group. Conclusion The addition of morinda officinalis-salvia miltiorrhiza in combination significantly improves the bone conversion index and bone microstructure, and increases bone density in osteoporotic rats, which has a significant protective effect against osteoporosis in ovariectomized rats much better than estrogen treatment. |