Synchrotron microtomography to evaluate effects of different polychemotherapy drugs on cortical bone structure

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the effects of different polychemotherapy drugs on cortical bone structure, the femur diaphysis of rats were treated with two different chemotherapy drugs, AC (doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide) and TC (docetaxel + cyclophosphamide), and evaluated by 3D morphological analysis using synchrotron radiation microtomography.

Materials and methods: Wistar rats were classified into three groups. One group received doses of docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (G1) – TC regimen; a second group received doses of doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (G2) – AC regimen; while a control group (G0) received no further treatment. 3D tomographic images of the rats’ femurs were obtained at the SYRMEP (Synchrotron Radiation for Medical Physics) beamline at the ELETTRA Synchrotron Laboratory in Trieste, Italy, using monochromatic X-rays with resolution of 9 μm.

Results: It could be shown that the treatment caused significant differences in morphological parameters measured from the 3D images of femur diaphysis of rats, among the studied groups, complementing a previous study using stereological methods, biochemistry and electron microscopy.

Conclusions: Our results indicate that the same process of osteoporosis caused by advancing age might occur in young women treated with docetaxel + cyclophosphamide (TC) and doxorubicin + cyclophosphamide (AC). 3D microtomography was shown to be an outstanding technique for bone analysis.

Keywords:

• Microtomography
• cortical bone porosity
• morphological analysis
• chemotherapy drugs
• synchrotron radiation

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Brazilian agencies CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico), FAPERJ (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro) and CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) for financial support. This work was supported by ICTP-ELETTRA Users Programme and we acknowledge the SYRMEP group for help during image acquisition and reconstruction. We also acknowledge Professor Carlos Roberto Appoloni and the Laboratory of Applied Nuclear Physics from the State University of Londrina, for the time granted for writing the paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

ICTP-Elettra Users Programme.