Animal Models for Osteoporosis-A Review

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a long term systemic bone disease of developing relevance due to the change in current demography. If left untreated it even leads to the mortality of a person. Osteoporosis is becoming a major public health threat globally. Since the mechanism of this disease are still not fully understood and the treatment options are not satisfactorily involved, the research in osteoporosis was needed especially in an animal model. OVX rodents are commonly used to study the osteoporosis model. Some aspects can only be labeled in larger models only. Among the larger animal model sheep is used and have been used for orthopedic implants. There is no perfect animal model for osteoporosis, the appropriateness of an animal model is not only defined regarding the similarity to the human physiology and disease itself. The pathogenesis of osteoporosis is understood by establishing the various animal model and the pre-clinical testing of the anti-resorptive drugs. The animal model is required to simulate the osteoporotic behaviour has been always different from that of the pharmacological testing. This review aims to have an idea on the current animal models in osteoporosis research and their assessment of bone mass and microarchitecture.