Comparison of bone histomorphometry and μcT for evaluating bone quality in tail-suspended rats

Astronauts often suffer from microgravity-induced osteoporosis due to their time in space. Bone histomorphometry, the 'gold standard' technique for detecting bone quality, is widely used in the evaluation of osteoporosis. This study investigates whether μCT has the same application value as histomorphometry in the evaluation of weightlessness-induced bone loss. A total of 24 SD rats were distributed into three groups (n=8, each): tail-suspension (TS), TS plus active exercise (TSA), and control (CON). After 21 days, bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and μCT, and microstructure was measured by μCT and histomorphometry. BMD was found to have decreased significantly in TS and TSA compared with the CON group. The results of the μCT measurements showed that a change in BMD mainly occurred in the trabecular bone, and the trabecular BMD increased significantly in the TSA compared with the TS group. The comparison of μCT and histomorphometry showed that TS led to a significant decrease in bone volume (BV/TV), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and trabecular number (Tb.N), and it led to an increase in trabecular separation (Tb.Sp). However, active exercise can prevent these changes. Significant differences in most parameters between TSA and CON were found by μCT but not by histomorphometry. Additionally, the parameters of these two methods are highly correlated. Therefore, the application value of μCT is as good as histomorphometry and DXA in the diagnosis of weightlessness-induced osteoporosis and is even better in evaluating the efficacy of exercise.