Background & objectives: Considerable efforts are being made to develop new, more effective drugs for osteoporosis, including novel forms of bisphosphonates. The present study was carried out to compare the effect of a novel agent glucosamine alendronate (GA) alone and is combination with dihydroquercetin (DHQ) against the effect of a known drug alendronate (ALN) in the senescence-accelerated OXYS rats as model of osteoporosis.
Methods: Male OXYS and Wistar (control) rats were randomized across four experimental groups (n=15), which received 1.26 mg GA, 0.84 mg ALN, or 1.26 mg GA + 5.06 mg DHQ per kg of body weight. Untreated rats were used as control groups. At the end of treatment, the bone mineral density (BMD), bone biomechanical properties, and the levels of serum osteocalcin, αC-terminal crosslinked telopeptides of type I collagen (α-CTx) and calcium were measured.
Results: All treatments increased BMD in rats of both strains, but the improvement was more pronounced in OXYS rats: GA+DHQ increased both the strength of the femur by 20 per cent (P<0.01) and BMD by 7.6 per cent (P<0.023). GA+DHQ and ALN reduced serum α-CTx in OXYS rats. Only GA increased the level of osteocalcin in OXYS rats (P<0.05). ALN increased the cross-sectional area of the femur by 9 per cent (P<0.04) in OXYS and by 12 per cent (P<0.05) in Wistar rats.
Interpretation & conclusions: The combined treatment with GA+DHQ appears to be more effective at maintaining strength of the femur and BMD in OXYS rats, when compared to the individual drugs GA and ALN.