Effects of white kwao krua Pueraria mirifica airy shaw & suvatabandhu on bone loss in gonadectomized rats

This study aimed to investigate the effects of three month administration of crude of Pueraria mirifica, a Thai phytoestrogen containing plant, on bone loss and reproductive organs in the late middle age (7 months old) ovariectomized (OVX) and orchidectomized (ORX) rats. P. mirfica at a dose of 0, 10, 100 or 1000 mg/kg BW/day or 0.1 mg/kg BW/day of 17 a-ethinylestradiol (EE; a positive control) in 1 ml distilled water was gavaged to VOX and ORX rats for three months. after three months, rats were sacrificed and the bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) at the tibia, femur and the 4th lumbar vertebral body were measured with a peripheral quantitative computerized tomography (pQCT) densitometry and the bone microarchitecture was determined by histological technique. Bone loss in trabecular and cortical compartments at the various sites in axial bone (fourth lumbar vertebral body) and long bones (tibia and femur) induced by OVX in female rats or ORX in male rats was dose-dependently prevented by P. mirifica. the effects of 100 mg/kg BW/day of P. mirifica treatment on prevention of bone loss were equivalent to those of 0.1 mg/kg BW/day of EE. in female rats, the reduction of uterine weight induced by OVX was significantly recovered by P. mirifica treatment in a dose dependent manner. in male rats, the weights of seminal vesicles and ventral prostate glands, which were significantly decreased after three months of ORX, were not altered by P. mirifica treatment. these results suggest that P. mirifica has a therapeutic potential as a drug for treatment or prevention of osteoporosis in elderly women and elderly men with hypogonadism. However, the negative side effects on cancer induction, such as endometrial or breast cancer in females and prostate cancer in males should be further investigated.