%0 Journal Article
%T Black Tea May Be a Prospective Adjunct for Calcium Supplementation to Prevent Early Menopausal Bone Loss in a Rat Model of Osteoporosis
%A Asankur Sekhar Das
%A Maitrayee Banerjee
%A Dolan Das
%A Sandip Mukherjee
%A Chandan Mitra
%J Journal of Osteoporosis
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/760586
%X The present study was undertaken to find out the ability of black tea extract (BTE) as a suitable alternative of adjunct for calcium supplementation in treating an ovariectomized rat model of early osteoporosis. Female Wistar rats weighing 140¨C150£¿g were divided into four groups consisting of six animals in each group: (A) sham-operated control; (B) bilaterally ovariectomized; (C) bilaterally ovariectomized + BTE; (D) bilaterally ovariectomized + 17¦Â-estradiol. Results suggest that BTE could promote intestinal absorption of calcium significantly ( for duodenum and ileum; and for jejunum). This was found associated with enhanced activities of two relevant intestinal mucosal enzymes alkaline phosphatase ( for duodenum, jejunum, and ileum) and Ca2+ activated ATPase ( for duodenum, jejunum, and ileum). Such BTE-mediated promotion of calcium absorption was coupled with increase in serum estrogen titer ( ) and recovery of all urinary, bone, and serum osteoporotic marker parameters, including bone histological features. Serum parathyroid hormone level, however, was not altered in these animals ( ). A comparative study with 17¦Â-estradiol, a well-known adjunct for calcium supplementation, indicated that efficacy of BTE in maintaining skeletal health is close to that of 17¦Â-estradiol. This study suggests that simultaneous use of BTE is promising as a prospective candidate for adjunctive therapies for calcium supplementation in the early stage of menopausal bone changes. 1. Introduction Menopause and increasing age are associated with a decrease in calcium absorption that can contribute to the pathogenesis of osteoporosis [1]. Calcium supplements appear to be effective in reducing bone loss in women, but there is a considerable uncertainty about the effectiveness of calcium supplementation in preventing bone loss at the early stage of the menopause [2¨C4]. Several adjunctive therapies with calcium supplementation were attempted earlier to prevent osteoporosis in early stage of menopause [5, 6]. Of these different adjunctive therapies, HRT, SERMs, and vitamin D were mostly advised [7, 8], but with controversial results [5, 9, 10]. In addition, HRT and SERMs are associated with well-known adverse health effects like breast cancer [11], thromboembolism [9, 12], stroke, and cardiovascular disease early in the course of therapy [13, 14]. Several phytoestrogens were attempted earlier to prevent osteoporotic damages in menopausal condition. Such studies also had controversial results [15¨C17]. However, black tea (Camellia sinensis) has been reported as a medicinal plant
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jos/2013/760586/