Park SJ, Oh JY, Son KY, et al.
in Scientific Proceedings (Abstract). American College of Veterinary Radiology 2014.
Introduction/Purpose: Prednisolone (PDS), one of the synthetic glucocorticoids is commonly used for various diseases including inflammatory or allergic diseases in veterinary practice, and can induce osteopenia and osteoporosis as side effects. Alendronate, a potent amino bisphosphonate, is prescribed to prevent glucocorticoid- induced osteopenia in humans. In this study, vertebral trabecular bone mineral density (BMD) was evaluated using quantitative computed tomography (OCT) to determine whether low dose of PDS induces bone loss and whether alendronate prevents glucocorticoid-induced osteopenia in dogs.
Methods: Eight healthy beagles were divided into a PDS group (n = 4) and a PDS and alendronate co-administration group (n = 4). PDS was administered to the PDS group at a dosage of 2 mg/kg for 2 weeks, 1 mg for 4 weeks, and 0.5 mg for 3 weeks daily per oral, and in the alendronate co-administration group, 2 mg/kg alendronate was administered for 9 weeks in addition to the same dosage of PDS used in the PDS group. BMD of lumbar vertebra was measured using OCT on days 0, 21, 42, 63 and 150 after drug administration.
Results: BMD in the PDS group decreased to 84.7% of the normal value on day 42, increased to 87.9% on the day 63, and recovered to 91.6% on day 150. In the alendronate co-administration group, BMD decreased to 91% of the normal value on the day 21, increased to 93.8% on the day 63, and then recovered to 96.7% on the day 150.
Discussion/Conclusion: BMD temporarily decreased after low dose PDS administration; however, it recovered during tapering of the PDS. BMD in the PDS group tended to lower than that of the alendronate group on each examination day, but no significant difference was observed between two groups. These results suggest that a low dose of PDS can be used with little concern for osteopenia.
‘This study was supported in part by the Animal Medical Institute of Chonnam National University and a research grant from Chonnam National University in 2012.