The effects of several
antihypertensive drugs on
bone mineral density (BMD) and micro-architectural changes in ovariectomized (OVX)
mice were investigated. Eight-week-old
female C57/BL6
mice were used for this study. Three days after
ovariectomy,
mice were treated intraperitoneally with
nifedipine (15 mg/kg),
telmisartan (5 mg/kg),
enalapril (20 mg/kg),
propranolol (1 mg/kg) or
hydrochlorothiazide (12.5 mg/kg) for 35 consecutive days. Uterine
atrophy of all
mice was confirmed to evaluate
estrogen deficiency state. BMD and micro-architectural analyses were performed on tibial proximal ends by micro-computed
tomography (micro-CT). When OVX
mice with uterine
atrophy were compared with
mice without
atrophy, BMD decreased (P < 0.001). There were significant differences in BMD loss between different
antihypertensive drugs (P = 0.005).
Enalapril and
propranolol increased BMD loss in
mice with atrophied
uteri compared with control
mice. By contrast,
thiazide increased BMD in
mice with uterine
atrophy compared with vehicle-treated
mice (P = 0.048).
Thiazide (P = 0.032) and
telmisartan (P = 0.051) reduced
bone loss and
bone fraction in
mice with uterine
atrophy compared with the control.
Thiazide affects BMD in OVX
mice positively. The reduction in
bone loss by
thiazide and
telmisartan suggest that these
drugs may benefit menopausal
women with
hypertension and
osteoporosis.