Comparative therapeutic use of Risedronate and Calcarea phosphorica - allopathy versus homeopathy - in bone repair in castrated rats

Abstract

Comparative therapeutic use of Risedronate and Calcarea phosphorica -allopathy versus homeopathy -in bone repair in castrated ratsComparação do uso terapêutico de Risedronato e Calcarea phosphorica -alopatia versus homeopatia -no reparo ósseo em ratos castrados Cristina Werkman* Giselle Segnini Senra* Rosilene Fernandes da Rocha** Adriana Aigotti Haberbeck Brandão*** ABSTRACT: Osteoporosis, a disease characterized by progressive bone loss, has been the target of several studies in the past few years. It results in a much higher risk for fractures and might cause slower bone lesion healing. The aim of this work was to study the effects of Risedronate (allopathic medicine) and Calcarea phosphorica 6CH (homeopathic medicine) on the repair of bone lesions in male rats with osteoporosis induced by castration. Eighty-four three-month-old rats were used divided into four groups of twenty-one animals each. Three groups where castrated and one group was submitted to Sham surgery. One month later, cortical lesions were made in all animals' tibiae and, after one day, the different experimental treatments began according to the following groups: CR -castrated/Risedronate (1 mg/kg/day); CCp -castrated/Calcarea phosphorica 6CH (3 drops/day); CP -castrated/placebo and SP -Sham/placebo. The animals were sacrifi ced at seven, fourteen and twenty-eight days after the beginning of the treatments and had their tibiae removed. Digital radiographs of the tibiae were taken and analyzed in order to evaluate the optical density of the defect area. Then, they were decalcifi ed and processed for histological and histomorphometrical analysis. The data were submitted to ANOVA, and to the Tukey and Dunnett tests (5%). The allopathic and homeopathic treatments led to different bone formation as regards remodeling and maturation aspects. Further research is necessary to access the resistance and quality of the newly formed bone. DESCRIPTORS:Allopathy; Homeopathy; Calcarea phosphorica; Fracture healing. RESUMO:A osteoporose, doença caracterizada pela perda de massa óssea, tem sido alvo de estudos nos últimos anos. Fraturas decorrentes da osteoporose são muito comuns e podem apresentar consolidação mais lenta. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do risedronato (medicamento alopático) e da Calcarea phosphorica 6CH (medicamento homeopático) no reparo de lesões ósseas em ratos com osteoporose induzida por castração. Para tanto, foram utilizados oitenta e quatro ratos, com três meses de idade, separados em quatro grupos de vinte e um animais, sendo três grupos submetidos à castração e um grupo a falsa cirurgia ("Sham"). Um mês após a cirurgia, foram realizadas lesões corticais na tíbia de todos os animais e, a partir do dia seguinte, os tratamentos experimentais foram iniciados de acordo com os seguintes grupos: CR -castrado/risedronato (1 mg/kg/dia); CCp -castrado/Calcarea phosphorica 6CH (três gotas/dia); CP -castrado/placebo e SP -"sham"/placebo. Os animais foram sacrifi cados aos sete, catorze e vinte e oito dias após o início do trat...

The Effect of Risedronate on Posterior Lateral Spinal Fusion in a Rat Model

“…Numerous studies have shown that plain radiographs are poorly correlated with fusion in animal models 6,27,45) . Also, fusion mass evaluation through optical density analysis does not faithfully describe the bone callus' morphological course because it does not consider the differences between the trabecular and lamellar bones and also because it adds the fibrous connective tissue to the measurements 42) . Therefore, we can conclude that radiographic evaluation is not an exact and sufficient method to assess a solid fusion versus a pseudarthrosis in an animal model fusion assessment 4) .…”

“…Bisphosphonates are being used widely in diseases that present increase in bone resorption, such as senile or postmenapause osteopenia and osteoporosis 11,26,43,47) . Studies indicate that they stimulate a higher bone density increase than other drugs used with the same purpose, such as raloxifene or calcitonin 42) . Chemically, bisphosphonates are synthetic analogs of endogenous pyrophosphate 2,28) .…”

Animal models for studying homeopathy and high dilutions: Conceptual critical review

“…5,6 But our general overview reveals an important common feature of the reviewed models: the effect of high dilutions is often to restore living systems to a certain 'stable state'. This is seen in studies of behavior, tissue organization and infection 13,14,20,[23][24][25] and in some cases demonstrated by mathematical models. 26,27 By the concept of 'stable state' we mean the recovery of a biological system to control or normal parameters, after some kind of physiological perturbation.…”

“…Tissue organization: Werkman and colleagues compared Calcarea phosphorica 6cH and Sodium risedronate (1 mg/ kg) in bone regeneration in a rat osteoporosis model. 25 Serial digital histomorphometric analysis of bones showed quantitative but, mainly qualitative differences between treatments and between treated and control rats. In osteoporotic bones, the osseous turnover is inadequate because, bone formation is diminished and resorption increased.…”

Systemically impaired fracture healing in small animal research: A review of fracture repair models

“…Orchidectomy has been used in orthopedic animal research to model male osteoporosis, but few studies have explored its use in the context of fracture healing. In these studies, osteoporosis was successfully induced by orchidectomy in rats age 2–8 months, 1–3 months before fracture 18‐20 . The orchidectomy technique has been described in detail elsewhere 16 …”