Improved bone biomechanical properties in rats after oral xylitol administration

The effects of 5, 10, and 20% dietary xylitol supplementations on the biome chanical properties, histological architecture, and the contents of collage n, pyridinoline, and deoxypyridinoline in long bones of rats were studied. Tibiae were used for the three-point bending test, and femurs were used for the torsion and loading test of the femoral neck. The 10 and 20% oral xyli tol administrations caused a significant increase of tibial stress, femoral shear stress, and stress of the femoral neck as compared with the controls . Parallel, but not significant, effects were also seen in the 5% xylitol s upplementation group. No significant differences in strain or Young's modul us of the tibiae were detected between the groups. An increased shear modul us of elasticity in femurs was detected in the 20% supplementation group as compared with the controls. The histomorphometrical data for the secondary spongiosa of the proximal tibia revealed that trabecular bone volume was s ignificantly greater in all dietary xylitol supplementation groups as compa red with the controls. The bone volume increased along with increasing xyli tol content. No significant differences between the groups were detected co ncerning the amount of collagen per dry weight of organic matrix, the conce ntrations of pyridinoline or deoxypyridinoline in collagen, or the ratio of these crosslinks. This suggests no xylitol-dependent selective changes in these structures of bone collagen. In conclusion, dietary xylitol supplemen tation in rats improves the biomechanical properties of bone and increases the trabecular bone volume dose dependently.