A Scanning-Electron Microscope Comparison of Normal and Postmenopaulsa Osteoporptic Trabecular Bone

Abstract

The disease postmenopausal osteoporosis will at some time affect 50% of the world's population. Every woman, once menopause is attained, is subjected to the disease process. The loss of bone which occurs, accounts for the high incidence of broken hips and crushed vertebrae in older women. Current methods of treatment are not entirely satisfactory. Attempts to develop better treatments have been hampered by problems inherent in the disease mechanism. Little is actually known about the disease process. Thus a need exists for more research to determine the exact mechanisms of the disease so that better treatments can be developed. This project is an attempt to learn more about the disease mechanisms by using morphological comparisons of normal and postmenopausal osteoporotic trabecular bone.Overall cortical thickness and spicule width decreased with increasing age. The appearance of resortpion bays also changed with increasing age of the subject. They became larger and elongated. Their surfaces also became granular and porous with a decrease in the sharpness of the bay edges.The results of this study indicate that a combination of mechanisms (increased resorption and decreased bone formation) may be responsible for the disease progression.