Effect of intermittent three-month treatment with different doses of Ukrain on subregional femoral bone mineral density of sexually mature female rats

Sexually mature but still growing female Wistar mts received i.p. injection s of Ukrain (7, 14 or 28 mg/kg in a volume of 0.5 ml/100g) every other day for 10 days, followed by a 10-day break, and this procedure was performed f ive times. The control animals received the same volume of injected water. At the end of the experiment the rat right femora were harvested and the bo ne densitometric parameters of the entire bone, distal metaphyseal and basi cervical subregions were assessed using the dual-energy Xray absorptiometry (DXA) densitometric method. No significant changes were observed in the bo ne mineral density in experimental groups in comparison with control animal s that received the vehicle. A slight decrease in the bone mineral content value was observed in the distal metaphyseal region in animals that were tr eated with the highest dose of Ukrain.