抄録
Lanthanum (La) is widely used in industry and medicine. Because of lanthanum's physicochemical resemblance to calcium, the possible effects of it on bone have to be considered. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of La on bone toxicity. Rats were intravenously administrated with lanthanum chloride at 5 mg La/kg per week for five weeks. Histomorphometric analysis of femurs were performed using micro-CT scan. Compared with normal controls, the total bone area of the femur did not show any change in La-administrated rats, whereas the trabecular area slightly decreased. The trabecular bone mineral density in the experimented rats was higher than that in the normal controls, although the mineral density of the cortical bone and cancerou one was unchanged after the administration of La. La did not alter mechanical barometers of the femur such as mean cross-sectional moment of inertia, minimum cross-sectional moment of inertia and polar moment of inertia. Additionally, light microscopic analysis of the femurs revealed that histological features of osteoid, calcification front and bone matrix were normal after the administration of La. La was detected in the macrophages in the bone marrow, but not in the bone matrix by histological stain for La and X-ray fluorescence microanalysis. Thus, these micro-CT imaging and microscopy of the femurs did not reveal toxic changes due to La.