抄録
Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis, Mfa) are non-seasonal breed-ers. They have a menstrual cycle and sexual hormone levels similar to women, thus they are considered as a human model for bone research; how-ever, some details are not fully elucidated. Our objective was to inves-tigate relationships in radial bone mineral density (BMD), lumbar verte-bral osteoarthritis (OA) and menstrual status in female Mfa (N = 61; 5-36 years). We followed the guideline and carried out study with permission from ethical committees of Tsukuba Primate Research Center. The monkeys were examined on cortical and trabecular BMDs (CorBMD and TbBMD); assess-ment of OA by disc space narrowing (DSN, score) and osteophytosis (OST, score); and 3 groups of different menstrual status (menopause, perimeno-pause, and regularity) from a record. We found that TbBMD continuously decreased from young adulthood; CorBMD increased from young adulthood to the peak around 20 years of age, then decreased; and DSN and OST clearly aggravated with age and they were dominant at the thoracolumbar involve-ment. A menopausal group had the average lowest value of TbBMD followed by a perimenopausal and regular group, while DSN and OST scores showed inverse trend with TbBMD. Positively significant relationships (Ken-dall's correlation) were found between age and OA; and negatively be-tween age and TbBMD, and TbBMD and OA. In conclusion, Mfa showed common age-related and menstrual changes in bones which are similar to women and other macaques.
