Androgens and androgen deficiency in animal models for osteoporosis

作者：Erben R G^*

来源：Osteologie, 2010, 19(2): 117-121.

• Androgens
• estrogens
• animal model
• osteoporosis

Hypogonadism is considered to be one of the major risk factors for osteoporosis in men. Animal models, especially rats and mice, have been used to improve our understanding of the skeletal effects of androgens. Androgen deficiency during growth is associated with a failure to acquire normal peak bone mass, whereas orchiectomy of aged, nongrowing male rats is associated with a pronounced and sustained increase in bone turnover and with a concomitant loss of cancellous and endocortical bone, closely mimicking the conditions induced by androgen withdrawal in adult humans. The increase in bone resorption found in aged androgen deficient rats is associated with an upregulation of free soluble RANKL in bone marrow. Although : there is firm evidence that male bone metabolism can be influenced via the androgen and " the estrogen receptor-a (ER), a variety of clinical and animal experimental data have suggested that, under physiological conditions, the maintenance of cancellous and endocortical bone mass in males primarily involves the ER-a-mediated skeletal action of estrogen derived from the aromatization of androgens.

• 出版日期2010