Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) treatments stimulate bone formation activities though further work is needed to optimize its therapeutic benefit. PEMF can generate local potential gradients and electric currents that have been suggested to mimic bone electrochemical responses to load. In line with this reasoning, a recent publication reported that PEMF application on isolated bone tissue induced detectable micro-vibrations (doi:). To determine the ability of PEMF to intervene in a rat model of osteoporosis, we tested its effect on trabecular and cortical bone following ovariectomy. Four PEMF treatments, with increasing sinusoidal amplitude rise with time (3850 Hz pulse frequency and 15 Hz repetition rate at 10 tesla/sec (T/s), 30 T/s, 100 T/s, or 300 T/s), were compared to the efficacy of an osteoporosis drug, alendronate, in reducing levels of trabecular bone loss in the proximal tibia. Herein, the novel findings from our study are: (1) 30 T/s PEMF treatment approached the efficacy of alendronate in reducing trabecular bone loss, but differed from it by not reducing bone formation rates; and (2) 30 T/s and 100 T/s PEMF treatments imparted measurable alterations in lacunocanalicular features in cortical bone, consistent with osteocyte sensitivity to PEMF in vivo. The efficacy of specific PEMF doses may relate to their ability to modulate osteocyte function such that the 30 T/s, and to a lesser extent 100 T/s, doses preferentially antagonize trabecular bone resorption while stimulating bone formation. Thus, PEMF treatments of specific magnetic field magnitudes exert a range of measurable biological effects in trabecular and cortical bone tissue in osteoporotic rats.
Keywords:
Ovariectomized rats; Trabecular bone loss; Pulsed electromagnetic fields; Alendronate; In vivo micro-computed tomography; Bone histomorphometry; Pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF); Insulin-like Growth Factors (IGFs); Wingless-related integration site 1 (Wnt1); Bone Morphogenic Protein 2 (BMP-2); mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1); bone volume fraction (BV/TV); cortical bone area fraction (Ct.Ar/Tt.Ar); bone mineral content (BMC); ovariectomy (OVX); bone mineral density (BMD); magnetic field (B field); root-mean-square (RMS); alendronate (ALN); micro-computed tomography (micro-CT); PEMF 10 T/s (PS10); PEMF 30 T/s (PS30); PEMF 100 T/s (PS100); PEMF 300 T/s (PS300); region of interest (ROI); Hounsfield units (HU); alizarin Red-S (ARS); 4,6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI); bone formation rates (BFR); percentage of bone surface actively mineralizing (% MS/BS); mineral apposition rate (MAR); bone formation rate per bone surface (BFR/BS); bright-field (BF); Tartrate-Resistant Acid Phosphatase (TRAP); osteoblasts per millimeter bone surface (N.Ob); osteocytes per millimeter2 bone area (N.Ot); osteoclasts per millimeter bone surface (N.Oc); matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13); cathespin K (CatK); perilacunar/canalicular remodeling (PLR); lacuna-canalicular network (LCN); cortical area fraction (Ct.Ar/Tt.Ar); trabecular number (Tb.N); trabecular thickness (Tb.Th); trabecular spacing (Tb.Sp); average cortical thickness (Ct.Th)